For the Love of the Land
by Harmony Slytherin
Summary: ***COMPLETE***Hermione must form a bond with Ginny, Neville, Cho Chang, and...Draco Malfoy? Why? Because Hermione is now doing things to fight Voldemort that she thought only Harry Potter would ever do...
1. Default Chapter

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part One  
  
Platform 9 and 3/4 jostled Hermione Granger as she tried in vain to find a familiar face. Younger students surrounded her on all sides. Even after five years Hermione could remember her very first trip on the Hogwarts express. That's where she had met Harry. And Ron.   
  
Don't think of Ron! She scolded herself. Hermione had made a pledge over the summer: I no longer have a crush on Ron Weasley. Hermione knew it wasn't that simple, but she was going to try.   
  
Speaking of Ron...did she just see a blob of red? Yes! The Weasleys, and Harry with them. She ran over, waving and smiling.   
  
"Hey!" She shouted, still ten feet from the Weasleys.   
  
"Hermione!" She heard, shouts coming in all different forms from the bunch before her. Ron and Harry ran toward her, nearly making road kill out of the second years who were in their way. Hermione held back a very loud laugh.   
  
"Hey, where have you been?" Harry demanded. Hermione rolled her eyes.   
  
"On Neptune," She replied sarcastically.   
  
"Well, that explains a lot," Ron said, with equal sarcasm.  
  
"Honestly, when did you guys get so sarcastic?" Harry asked as they started searching for an empty compartment.   
  
"When I met him!" Hermione said, pointing at Ron.   
  
"When I met her!" Ron said at the same time, pointing to Hermione. Harry simply shook his head and gestured to a compartment nearby devoid of occupants.   
  
They stowed away their trunks and Hermione let the cat out of the bag-literally. She opened her wicker basket and set Crookshanks on the floor, while Ron covered Pig's cage with a set of robes. They were ready for some serious post-holiday conversation.  
  
"What did you do Hermione?" Harry asked politely.  
  
"Yeah, what was so important that you couldn't come stay with us?" Hermione rolled her eyes. Guys. Well, to be more specific, Ron. He was just...crude. Or maybe Harry was polite. Whichever it was, it was terribly annoying.  
  
"I was on holiday in Nova Scotia," Hermione informed him haughtily. In all honesty it hadn't been much of a holiday at all. They spent the whole time with a bunch of doddery old great-aunts and uncles who talked of nothing but local gossip. Hermione had to do her homework discreetly, lest her Muggle relatives discover her magical studies. Her great-great-uncle Fritzgerald was still convinced that magic was real, and believed witches evil and deserving of their medieval punishments of being burned at the stake. Hermione had yearned for her friends, Hogwarts, classes...ANYTHING with a little bit of magic. For two months. Yuck.  
  
"Oh really?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow. "And did you enjoy Nova Scotia?"   
  
"Of course I did!" Hermione lied. Ron and Harry saw right through her.   
  
"Hermione, you are absolutely no good at lying." Harry said, shaking his head.  
  
"So, like I said," Ron began. "Did you like Nova Scotia?"  
  
"Argh, it was HORRID!" Hermione said. She started off in detail, complaining about her stupid relatives for nearly an hour. That's when the snack trolley rolled into their compartment, and they had all bought as many sweets as they could carry, especially Hermione, who had taken a liking to sugary things and didn't get any over the summer. Her parents were great and all, but they were still...dentists. Just thinking of it made her take a large bite out a pumpkin pastry.  
  
"So," Hermione said, then quickly swallowing the last bit of the pumpkin pastry. "What did you guys do?"  
  
"Oh, you know, the usual," Ron said biting the top off a licorice wand.  
  
"The usual?"  
  
"I stayed at the Dursley's for a miserable month and a half, Ron picked me up and scared them half to death, then I stayed at the borrow and had a blast for the last few weeks of holiday." Harry said this nonchalantly around a chocolate frog, but Hermione knew he was concerned. The dementors had finally deserted Azkaban. Hermione knew about his worry, and Harry knew she knew about his worry, so there was no need to voice it. After being best friends for five years, you learn to say things without saying anything at all.  
  
"Sixth year." Harry said, and then put on a monotone voice. "Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to get Draco Malfoy expelled. Repeat, get Draco Malfoy expelled. This message will self-destruct in five seconds." With that he made a blast from his wand that sent a loud 'BOOM' through the compartment. Hermione, who had been giggling behind her hand the whole time, burst out in full fledged laughter, and was shortly joined by Harry. Ron sat there, looking both confused and as though he thought his best friends had just gone mad.   
  
"Okay, you two are seriously freaking me out." He said, looking from one to the other for an explanation. They looked at Ron, then at each other, then started laughing again.   
  
"GUYS!" Ron exploded in frustration.   
  
"It's a Muggle thing," Harry said, finally calming himself down.   
  
"Mission Impossible, it's an old tv show." Hermione started singing the theme song, but Harry clamped a hand over her mouth.   
  
"Please, let's not go THERE, Miss Tone Deaf, UK." Harry teased. Ron laughed and joined in. Somehow, teasing Hermione turned into Quidditch. Hermione just rolled her eyes and picked up her new Transfiguration book. With those two, everything could be traced back to Quidditch.  
  
Hermione started to read. Or at least, she PRETENDED to start reading. In reality she was peeking over the top to look at Ron every ten seconds or so. He was so cute when he laughed...  
  
NO! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! This cannot be happening to me! Hermione thought. The crush was still there stronger than ever. NO! She was getting rid of it THIS year. Ron had absolutely no interest in her, and she wasn't going to some stupid girl who sat around all of her life waiting for a guy who didn't like her. It was only logical. Not that liking Ron was logical. Was anything logical? Transfiguration was logical. Hermione glanced down at her book as the words swam in and out of focus. Okay, so maybe Transfiguration wasn't logical...  
  
Hermione continued like this for the rest of the train ride; trying to convince herself that liking Ron wasn't logical, realizing that did no good, then trying to console herself in Transfiguration just to find herself peeping out over the top again. It was quite a relief when the train stopped and they piled out of the train.  
  
"I hope there's not many first years, I am STARVING!" Ron said, looking at the castle as he climbed into a carriage with the other two and Neville.   
  
"Honestly, Ron, you ate a ton of sweets," Hermione said, in what could be a scold.   
  
"That was HOURS ago!" He whined. Hermione rolled her eyes and got into a conversation with Neville, which she wasn't paying much attention to because she kept looking over at Ron. Not there was anything wrong with looking over at Ron. No, EVERYTHING was wrong with looking at Ron. Or maybe-but blissfully, the carriage halted before Hermione's head exploded in confusion. She chatted with Ron and Harry as she went into the Great Hall and took a seat, with the boys on her left, farther from the teachers.  
  
Ron groaned as the first years entered. It WAS an unusually long line of them...Hermione suddenly realized that Ron was right, it HAD been hours since the sweets. And it wasn't often that Hermione gave Ron credit for being right.  
  
"Ablad, Abbagail!" Professor McGonagall cried out.  
  
"HUFFLEPUFF!" And so, the Sorting began. All the older students applauded, but really, they were waiting for McGonagall to hurry up and finish so they could eat.  
  
Finally, with 'Young, Melissa' becoming a Gryffindor, the feast began. Ron helped himself to everything he could reach (which, considering his long arms, was a lot) and began eating so fast that Hermione stared.   
  
"It's become worse over the summer," Harry said, grabbing the chicken. Hermione continued staring until Harry put some potatoes on her plate and brought her back to reality.  
  
An hour later Ron had ingested three plates heaped with dinner and two of desert. He was the last one to set down his fork.  
  
"Ahem," Professor Dumbledore said, rising to his feet. "Now that you are all finished-" He looked very pointedly at Ron, causing Harry and Hermione to work very hard to keep a straight face.  
  
"I have a few start-of-term announcements for you. Firstly, a reminder that the Forest is completely forbidden, with no exceptions. There is no magic allowed in the hallways. Any students not sure on what objects are allowed in the school should go see Mr. Filch.  
  
"I would also like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher." As Dumbledore said this, a woman sitting next to Professor Sinistra stood up. Her auburn hair as clipped along her chin line so that it got shorter toward the back, and was longest at the front. Her eyes were hazel and sharp, now surveying the students carefully. Her eyes rested on Harry, Ron and Hermione for a moment, and they narrowed.  
  
"Everyone please give a warm welcome to Professor Starlight!" Dumbledore said.   
  
"I don't like the looks of her," Ron said, leaning in towards Harry and Hermione, still clapping politely with the rest of the hall.  
  
"Oh, Ron, give her a chance!" Hermione said.  
  
"Yeah, we'll give her a trial run." Harry said. He, too, didn't look all that thrilled with Starlight. Hermione rolled her eyes. Will they ever learn that the teachers are NOT the enemy?  
  
"Now, off to bed!" Dumbledore said, shooing them away. Hermione led the first years upstairs to their dorms, then she went up to her own. I love my house and all, she thought, but nothing beats Hogwarts.  
  



	2. Part Two

A/N Okay, I've had some reviews from H/H shippers. I'm not particularly R/H or, as a matter of fact, anything. I write some of anything. If you like H/H, then please read 'The Voice in the Woods.' It is an H/H fic and it doesn't get any reviews. This will be an R/H fic. Period. I actually get into a plot here, so enjoy.  
  
Disclaimer: I usually don't put disclaimers up because it's FANfiction.net. But, since I'm typing stuff up anyway, I figure I might as well remind y'all that all of the characters belong to the Almighty J K Rowling. As if you didn't already know that.  
  
For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Two  
  
The first thing Hermione did the morning she woke up and September 2 was to get out a piece of parchment and a quill. Not for homework, but to write a letter.   
  
The biggest thing that bugged her about going to Nova Scotia was that the Grangers hadn't taken their yearly visit to Aunt Charlotte. Aunt Charlotte was the only of Hermione's relative (beside her parents, of course) who knew about her magical training. Unlike her parents, who were scared to death with the thought of Hermione in all the dangerous Dark situations she had already encountered, Aunt Charlotte lived for Hermione's adventurous tales, and knew about everything except Sirius. For years Hermione had written Aunt Charlotte when in doubt, and she didn't intend to quit now.  
  
Aunt Charlotte and Ginny were the only living souls who knew about Hermione's crush on Ron. Thank God she had someone to confide in; Hermione was a whiz in class, but with guys it was a completely different matter. It was this that Hermione wanted to write her beloved aunt about. She managed to sign her name just before Lavender awoke with a none too ladylike groan of protest. Hermione pocketed the letter and ran a brush through her bushy hair, not taking too much of her precious time. When she was finished, Hermione didn't think her hair looked any different than it had before. But she didn't care. Neither would Ron. Not that that was important. Of course it was important! Why should it be...  
  
Hermione could feel a headache coming on swiftly and surely. She sighed and jogged to the owlery while her mind argued with itself. Even with this detour, Hermione was among the first in the Great Hall. She was joined a short while later by Harry and Ron. The three got into an interesting conversation, which Hermione had to keep steering away from Quidditch.  
  
"Sixth year schedules!" Someone down the crowded table shouted. The threesome all grabbed a schedule and were silent for a fraction of a second.   
  
"Defense Against the Dark Arts first thing today." Harry said grimly. Both he and Ron took this as some sort of death sentence, which Harry would be getting later as the boys had Divination in the afternoon. Hermione rolled her eyes. She wasn't entirely at ease, though. The fact remained that over half their DADA professors had been evil or frauds. She could not afford to lose another year in that class.  
  
The sixth year Gryffindors were unusually quiet as they took their seats in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Professor Starlight swooped in, causing them to start. Had they not been so nervous they would've seen how pretty their new teacher was. Her eyes accented her hair, which were both perfect for her medium skin tone.   
  
However, as she 'Brown, Lavender,' was called for attendance, they could tell just by her voice that this teacher wasn't going to take any crap from anyone. She was sharp, not missing anything. As she looked around, her eyes paused once again on the threesome. Hermione stared back determinedly, although she wanted to squirm.  
  
"I see from notes left by previous professors that you have covered many different things, and I am to bring you up to speed on curses and creatures of the Dark Force." Her voice was not loud, nor disdainful. It cut like a knife and demanded respect from her pupils. It looked like she might rival McGonagall on this scale.  
  
"We will start with creatures," She said, without further explanation. "Vampires, to be precise, we will then move to giants, dragons, and dementors. That should take up the first semester. Open your books to page 538. NOW!" She had the students scrambling. If Starlight had said, 'jump' the students would replied 'how high' and she knew it.  
  
"Granger, which is the most efficient way to kill a vampire?" Starlight said out of nowhere.  
  
"A wooden stake," Hermione said, looking up in surprise. Starlight's lips curled.  
  
"No, Miss Granger. Potter?"  
  
"Uh..."  
  
"Weasley?"   
  
"Well, um..."  
  
"I see I am teaching a group of imbeciles, does anyone here know how to the most effective way to kill a vampire? No? Roses. A whiff of a rose is death to vampires, and less dangerous than a stake. Copy that down, Miss Granger."  
  
Hermione felt herself turning red. So she hadn't known one measley answer, so what? That wasn't important. Nonetheless, she knew it would be around the school that she had missed a question. Hermione's face darkened even further in anger.   
  
They then took a very long series of complicated notes. The class struggled the whole time to catch the important facts. Even Hermione's hand hurt when they left for lunch from writing so much so rapidly.   
  
"She is definitely evil, probably sent by Crouch Jr." Ron said.   
  
"Just because she's not the nicest person in the world doesn't mean she's evil. That's we thought about Snape, too, in first year!" Hermione exclaimed.  
  
"I still think he's evil." Ron replied. Hermione rolled her eyes and gave Harry a Look.  
  
"I don't think she's evil, but I think her class is going to be." Harry said carefully. Hermione didn't have an argument for that, and Ron knew she didn't like Starlight much.  
  
"Hermione's just upset that she didn't know how to kill a vampire." Ron said.   
  
"That IS a way to kill a vampire Ron! At least I knew one. Unlike SOME people who were asked the same question!" Hermione said, her voice pitch rising ever so slightly with each syllable.  
  
However, as the week progressed, Hermione spent a lot of time researching vampires so as not to be embarrassed in their next class.  
  
Even then, while still miles ahead and all her other classes, Hermione was embarrassed again and again in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Starlight was asking her question that would've stumped seventh years.   
  
Why me? Hermione thought angrily as she went to lunch with the rest of the chatty crowd after one particularly blood boiling class. Why does she insist on asking ME all the difficult questions?  
  
Yet, Hermione wasn't the only one getting questions way beyond even her talent. Starlight was asking questions of the same proximity to Neville. Everyone but Hermione (who was to preoccupied with her own problems with the professor) thought that, while a little unfair, it was hilarious.   
  
"Hermione?" Ron said a tad bit timidly, and for good reason. Hermione was a DRAGON after that class!  
  
"What?" Hermione snapped, living up to her fiery reputation.  
  
"Uhh...." Ron stammered, and quickly took out his schedule and started studying it intently. Harry looked from one to the other as if he knew something they didn't. Hermione was just about to ask him what he was so high and mighty about, but then she saw Ginny glancing at Harry for a fraction of a second, turning slightly pink when a fifth year friend said something to her. At this Hermione couldn't help but smile. That girl was worse than she was.  
  
September sped by, as every September did. The only difference being that Hermione's most hated class was no longer Potions. Harry and Ron still despised it above all others, but, for reasons unknown, Starlight seemed more interested with Hermione than she was with either of her best friends.  
  
The afternoon of October the first found Hermione in the library, finishing an essay for Professor Flitwick and preparing to begin studying for an Arithmancy test the next day. She was just setting down her quill and picking up her book when a small owl fluttered in, dropped a note on her table, and swooped out. The owl hadn't been normal size, but it was larger than Pig.  
  
Curious, Hermione opened the note:  
  
Hermione Granger  
You are needed in my office immediately.  
Professor L. Starlight  
  
What have I done now? Hermione thought angrily. She magicked everything into her bag and started off for the office that held memories of Crouch Jr. and Gilderoy Lockhart.  
  
When Hermione opened the door she found that Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom were already occupying two of the five comfortable looking chairs in front of Starlight's desk. Hermione raised her eyebrows, but Ginny and Neville looked as confused as she was and Starlight wasn't saying anything, so Hermione sat down.  
  
The next to enter was Draco Malfoy.  
  
"Is this some kind of joke?" He asked looking at the three Gryffindors in disgust. Starlight gave him her Look and pointed to the chairs. Hermione studied the last chair, wondering who would sit there in a few moments.  
  
She was not left hanging for long. Thirty seconds later Cho Chang entered the room with a quizzical look around. Finally, Starlight spoke.  
  
"Welcome, Defenders of Hogwarts."  
  
  



	3. Neville has seen the Wizard of Oz!

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Three  
  
"WHAT?" Was the word that escaped Hermione's, Cho's, and Draco's lips. Neville looked slightly afraid of Starlight, as if she were a bit mad, and Ginny simply looked confused. It only took a moment for all five to be talking at once in very loud voices.  
  
"If you would please DESIST!" Starlight said, cutting through the demands of explanation. "Then I will explain." With that, silence fell.  
  
"Thank you. Now, I'm sure you realize that Hogwarts is nearing a desperate time of need. Well, the castle has its ways of protecting itself. But at times as dire as this it goes to its last resort.  
  
"As you probably know all the names of all the pupils accepted to Hogwarts are written in a large gold book in Professor Dumbledore's office. When in desperate need the book chooses seven students, and only seven. These students are brave, loyal, smart, and cunning. The elements that put you in your respective Houses.   
  
"These students have certain powers a normal witch or wizard does not posses. Six of the students can, how do you say, control certain elements. These elements being Water, Ice, Fire, Wind, Earth, and Lightening. The seventh student is a Divinator. These seven are known as The Defenders."  
  
"Uh, question." Draco interrupted, raising his hand slightly. Starlight looked at him, giving him permission to continue. "You said 'seven'...?" He said suggestively, looking around at the others, very obviously pointing out that there were only five of them.  
  
"Seven is a very powerful number." Starlight said. "Never, in all the history of Hogwarts have all the Defenders been used in one battle. It would probably destroy the school.  
  
Anyway, you five have a little bit of all four Houses in you-" Hermione did NOT believe that Draco Malfoy was, in any way, a Gryffindor, but she kept her mouth shut. "Why you were chosen, no one knows, but you were and therefore it is your duty to protect the school.  
  
"Cho Chang," She said, sharply and suddenly. "You are a model Ravenclaw student, an excellent Quidditch player, and soon to become a qualified witch. You have the power of the Wind at your hands. If you accept the invitation as a Defender, it will undoubtedly take a lot of time and energy, affecting your Quidditch and your studies. However, then we will have four, not five, and quite possibly Hogwarts will be destroyed when Lord Voldemort attacks. The decision is yours." Professor Starlight turned to the five younger students, leaving Cho's eyes wide at this extrodinary pronouncement.  
  
"The Dark Lord has taken something from each of you, something you hold dear. It is none of my business, but that's the way it is. This will affect everything you do the rest of the year. If you wish to leave, do so now, and none of us will hold this against you. This is your only chance to back out." She gave them all a hard stare in turn. None of them stood up.  
  
"That's what I thought." She said. "Cho, you are first."  
  
Cho stood up and walked so that she stood eye to eye with the Professor. Starlight wasn't exactly tall, but even so, you felt the need to look upward to see into her eyes.  
  
"Repeat after me. I, Cho Chang,"  
  
"I, Cho Chang," Cho said.  
  
"Pledge my loyalty,"  
  
"Pledge my loyalty,"  
  
"To Justice, Honor, and Hogwarts."  
  
"To Justice, Honor, and Hogwarts." Cho finished.  
  
"Cho Chang, as a Defender of Hogwarts you can now use the Powers of the Wind to protect what you love." She nodded, and Cho sat down. "Hermione Granger."  
  
In turn they were called up, and they took the Pledge. Hermione controlled Water, Neville; Earth, Malfoy; Ice, and Ginny; Fire.  
  
"This will not be easy." Starlight said when Ginny sat down. "I went to Hogwarts went Voldemort was just beginning to rise, and I was a Lightening Defender. No one outside this room, excluding Dumbledore, knows about us. And no one is to find out. Your teachers won't know, and if your grades drop a bit, and they ask you, you are not permitted to tell them. Your friends must be oblivious. You five will have to pull together as a tight knit group." She looked at them all. "I will coach you. I do not want to be a teacher to you when coaching. In class, I am Professor Starlight. Here, I am Luna. We will meet in a couple of days. I will send summons. Good evening to you all."  
  
With that, she turned, leaving the five no choice but to exit the now open doorway. For a moment they just stood there, looking at each other. Hermione was in shock. Ginny looked confused, and so did Cho. Neville looked plain terrified. As usual, Malfoy had no expression at all.  
  
"I think we should all go talk..." Ginny said quietly, the first brave enough to break the now deafening silence. Everyone else murmured some form of agreement and they headed for the Library, which was the closest place they could all go for some solitude with looking 100% suspicious.  
  
"Well, that was...interesting..." Hermione said, not really being able to find the words to describe the mixture of feelings settling down into what was seeming to become a permanent hurricane in her chest. Fear of what she had to do, Excitement at the prospect of doing it, Happy that someone had chosen her, confused about why she was chosen, upset that she had to work with Malfoy, glad Ginny and Neville would be by her side, and her feelings for Ron, which haunted her like an unwanted prospector where ever she went, were colliding all at once and it would be these four that she shared these feelings with. Oh, joy.  
  
"I don't understand." Ginny said, voicing the obvious opinion of all the others.   
  
"I wonder who the other two are..." Said Cho, referring to the Lightening and the Divinator.   
  
"What did she mean 'the Dark Lord has taken something you hold dear'. What was she talking about?" Hermione said. At this, the other four looked uneasy. Ginny bit her lip, Neville shifted position, Cho backed away slightly and stared at a nearby book entitled 'The Mysteries of Unicorns'. Even Malfoy reacted, his silver eyes suddenly shifting to the door at an unearthly speed. Apparently all the others knew EXACTLY what Starl-Luna had been talking about.  
  
"Uh, maybe Parvati or Lavender is the Divinator." Ginny said quickly, changing the subject. Everyone but Hermione immediately jumped in with a response. Hermione didn't understand. She had been Petrified in second year, but other than that the Dark Lord hadn't done anything to her personally. She talked a bit with the others, but her mind stayed on this question. Eventually, though, the subject turned to the strangest of things.  
  
She learned that Cho's favorite class was History of Magic because she considered it naptime. And that Malfoy hated Potions because it was boring. She learned that Ginny's worst fear was a friend betraying her family, and Neville's aunt and uncle lived in America and were millionaires off the money they had made in the stock market. That both Cho and Draco had started playing Quidditch at age six. That Neville's idol was Gregory Giona, an Italian wizard who defeated Arrriman the Awful in 1874. That Ginny had a pen pal in Argentina. That Malfoy was fascinated by the Ancient Roman Wizards. That Cho's cousin was Catholic. That Ginny used to slip caterpillars into Fred and George's beds for payback. That Neville had seen the Wizard of Oz.  
  
As Hermione climbed the stairs to the common room with Ginny and Neville later on that evening, her voice hoarse from talking she came to the conclusion that the last hour and a half had been more educational than any book she had ever read. Neville was looking at the girls as if seeing them for the first time, and Ginny was staring into space, the cogs of her brain working so hard Hermione swore the could hear them.  
  
Hermione was rather distant that night as she watched Harry try in vain to become the first person to ever defeat Ron at chess. Technically, she should have been doing her report on The Mermaid/Centaur Convention of 1674, but she had too much to think about.   
  
"Wanna play?" Ron asked, on a high from kicking Harry's butt. Again. He looked over at Hermione, who was staring at the chess board as if studying something beautiful that only she could see.  
  
"Hello?" Harry said, waving a hand in her face.  
  
"HERMIONE, YOU FAILED HERBOLOGY!!!!!" Ron screamed, attracting the attention of everyone in the common room. Hermione, very suddenly came out of her trance.  
  
"WHAT?!?!" She said, looking around desperately for her Herbology book while Ron and Harry laughed.  
  
"Just kidding, Hermione, geez," Ron said, grinning as if he had just won a victory.  
  
"Shut up, Ron." She said.  
  
"Make me." He challenged. Hermione simply sighed.  
  
"I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed." Hermione said, slamming her book. She slung her bag over her shoulder and marched up the stairs to her dormitory, where she could finally get some peace and quiet.  
  
The next day Professor McGonagall held Hermione back in Transifuration.  
  
"Yes, Professor?" Hermione said cautiously, approaching the professor's desk.  
  
"Miss Granger," She said. "Once again you have passed my test with 100%. However, your friend, Mr. Weasley, did not. His score was 63. I cannot tolerate that. I would like you to tutor him in your spare time, Miss Granger, in the Gryffindor common room. He has been informed, of course, and agreed a trifle reluctantly. I can't imagine why, he needs you help."  
  
"Uh...okay." Hermione said. With that, McGonagall waved her off. When out of earshot Hermione giggled. Tutoring Ron. That sounded like a hoot.  
  
She slid in next to Harry in the Great Hall and was just helping herself to mashed potatoes when Dumbledore stood up. The hall went silent.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen," He said. "I would just like to inform you about that starting now, when you receive one of these," He held up a red note card, "You are to report to the teacher on that card. If that means leaving class, so be it." He smiled. "I'm sure a few of you will be wishing for these cards." There were a few scattered laughs around the Hall. "Now, eat up!"  
  
"Hmmm, interesting." Harry said.  
  
"I hope I get a few of those in Transfiguration." Ron said grumpily. He was apparently miffed about the idea of Hermione tutoring him. She giggled.  
  
"What?" Harry asked.  
  
"Didn't Ron tell you?" She said, her eyes glittering. "Professor McGonagall wants me to tutor him."  
  
"Really?" Harry said, struggling to keep a straight face while Ron's went red.  
  
"Shut up Miss Know-it-all." Ron said while his best friends dissolved into a fit of laughter.  
  
That night Harry had Quidditch practice, and Hermione decided it was a good time to start the tutoring classes.  
  
"Chess?" Ron asked.  
  
"Transfiguration." Hermione said sternly, taking out her book. Ron groaned.  
  
"Do we have to?" He whined.  
  
"YES, Ron." With that she grabbed him by the ears and set him down at a circular table, where they began. It was trying on Hermione, because Ron kept looking outside, or at his chessboard, or anywhere but the book.  
  
"And that's how..." Hermione looked up to see Ron studying her intently.  
  
"What?" She asked, irritated.  
  
"Your eyes have gold in them." He replied. "I like it." Hermione blushed a deep shade of pink.   
  
"Thank you." She said. Ron leaned in closer, as if to study her eyes in closer range. Hermione felt her heart beating faster. Her breathing became slightly irregular. She studied his chocolate eyes as well. There was a ring of blue innermost to the pupil. Ron leaned more forward still. Hermione leaned in...  
  
"OW! Ron, what did you do that for?" Hermione said angrily, rubbing her head where Ron had hit it.  
  
"For telling Harry at dinner he didn't have to know."  
  
"That was uncalled for!" She exclaimed, feeling her eyes well up with tears, but not from pain. He wasn't trying to kiss me, she thought. He wasn't, he wasn't, he wasn't. Hermione was saved from having from the situation by one of the red summons Dumbledore had talked about at dinner. Professor Starlight, of course. She fled the room before Ron could ask her any questions.  



	4. Hagrid is raising kneazles!

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Four  
  
"I wan' ya to come out together an' study the kneazles an' 'elp me feed 'em," Hagrid said after partnering up the class. Ron and Hermione were partners, and Harry and Neville were partners. Hagrid and the sixth years were raising the kneazles from birth. A relief from terrifying monsters. Neville was extremely pleased with himself, because the kneazles had been his idea in the first place.  
  
"Yer ta come down once a-" but Hagrid was cut off by an owl overhead, which dropped a little red summons into the laps of Hermione, Neville, and Draco.  
  
Hermione tensed. This was the first time she had received a summons in a class she had with Draco. She had already started worrying about Ron and Harry noticing her suddenly being buddy-buddy with the other four Defenders, but as of yet they hadn't noticed anything.  
  
She got up and followed Neville up to the castle, Draco right behind her. They trooped up to Luna's classroom, which second years were filing out of.  
  
Ginny and Cho were already there. They sat at desks in the front row and Luna sat on her desk, facing them.  
  
"So far we've only practiced, and discussed theories on the control of the elements. Today we will begin dueling." Neville gulped and Hermione felt herself shiver. The forces they were dealing with were extremely powerful, and somewhat frightening.  
  
"We'll start off relatively easy. Draco vs. Hermione-"  
  
"How is that easy?" Neville questioned.  
  
"Ice and Water are closely related! The damage is minimal when you can soak some of it up. Now, the other duel, Cho vs. Neville,"  
  
"What about me?" Ginny demanded defiantly.  
  
"You'll be dueling me." Luna said absently.   
  
"WHAT?!" Ginny said, her brown eyes open wide. Dueling a PROFESSOR, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, no less.  
  
"Fire and lightening." Said Cho logically. "It makes perfect sense."  
  
"Don't worry, I'll take it easy on ya," Luna said, winking at Ginny. Hermione and Cho started giggling, Neville grinned, and Draco rolled his eyes. If someone had studied him, not that anyone did, they would've seen a small smile playing at his lips.  
  
Now, I think we'll begin with you two," She said, pointing at Cho and Neville. Draco snorted. He was still absolutely sure that Neville was a squib.  
  
"Bow," Luna instructed as Neville and Cho entered the dueling circle Luna. They did so, not taking they're eyes off one another. "I want you to practice with you Elements, so wait a few minutes for the disarming spell. GO!"  
  
Hexes flew everywhere. Neville's hair was lifted by the wind blowing fiercely in his direction, and Cho was trying to keep her balance as the rock beneath her shifted. They shot curses, more wind and more bits of sod at one another for several moments, blocking and dodging ninety percent of the curses.  
  
"Well, what do ya know?" Draco said quietly to Ginny. "Longbottom's not half bad."  
  
As he said this, the rock under Cho shifted violently, and she lost her balance.  
  
"Expelliarmus!" Neville shouted, and her wand went soaring into his outstretched hand. He was grinning broadly. Ginny and Hermione applauded enthusiastically, Luna let out a long, loud whistle, and Draco nodded approvingly.  
  
"Congratulations." Cho said, as she took Neville's offered hand and stood up. "That was great!"  
  
"Impressive work, Neville." Luna said, smiling. Okay, Hermione and Draco, you're up.  
  
The two of them bowed and raised their wands. At Luna's signal Hermoine's wand spat spells fast and furious. Draco was no slower, and ten minutes later neither had made much progress. Hermione's water was frozen before it hit Draco, and vice versa with Draco's ice.  
  
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Draco and Hermione shouted in unison. The wands switched owners, and the duel continued.  
  
Neville, Ginny, Cho, and Luna all looked at each other.  
  
"EXPELLIARMUS!" The two duelers now had their original wands, and the duel just kept on moving.  
  
"Uh, guys?" Neville said.  
  
"This is getting out of hand." Cho said, as the wands switched, again. Ginny was laughing.   
  
"Okay, okay!" Luna said, fighting for a straight face. Hermione and Draco dodged and ducked, but their wands didn't slow.  
  
"I'm calling this a draw!" She shouted. They didn't quit, Hermione's eyebrows were knitted together in concentration, and Draco was starting to sweat. They didn't appear to hear Luna.  
  
"STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY!" Luna shouted at the top of her lungs. Hermione sidestepped an orange jet of light and lowered her wand. Draco ducked his head and lowered his wand as a blue jet of light went over his head.  
  
"Sorry, what did you say?" He asked. Ginny and Cho, who had been snickering, burst out into full fledged laughter. Neville hid his laugh in a cough, and Luna rolled her eyes.   
  
"Uh, Draco you have my wand, or your wand?" Hermione said. And at that everyone else started laughing so hard they were leaning on each other for support. Hermione grinned as she realized the humor of the situation, and so did Draco as they sorted out whose wand was whose.  
  
"Alright, Ginny?" Luna said, stepping into the ring. She and Ginny bowed. Fire and lightening flew for less than five minutes before Luna had Ginny's wand in her grasp.  
  
"Well, that was interesting." Ginny said, stepping out of the ring as Luna returned her wand.  
  
"Well, THAT was boring." Draco said loudly. Ginny shot him a Look.  
  
"Draco, shut up. Luna would kick your ass in a duel." Hermione said protectively. Neville and Cho nodded their agreement.  
  
"Okay, well, we'll work on this more later." Luna said, checking her watch. The Defenders trooped out of her classroom.   
  
  
  
  
"Time for Transfiguration, Ron!" Hermione said in a sing song voice, coming up to her red headed friend. She was in a very good mood, having just received her response from Aunt Charlotte. As usual, the letter had completely reassured her, and she had sent an owl back right away.   
  
"No it's not." Ron said stubbornly.  
  
"Yes it is!" Hermione shot back, feeling an argument coming on.  
  
"NO IT'S NOT!" Ron shouted.  
  
"And why wouldn't it be?" She retorted.  
  
"Because it's our turn to go down and feed the kneazles!" Ron exclaimed.  
  
"Oh." Hermione said quietly, suddenly feeling very dumb. Ron laughed, and followed her outside the common room.  
  
"It's not funny, Ron."  
  
"Yes it is."  
  
"NO, it's NOT!"   
  
"YES it IS!" Was the conversation Hagrid heard as Ron and Hermione approached his cabin.  
  
"What's not funny?" He asked, then seeing the look on Hermione's face, he amended himself. "Er, I don't want to know."  
  
"Yes you do." Ron said.  
  
"No, he doesn't"  
  
"Yes he-"  
  
"Here are the kneazles!" Hagrid said, much louder than necessary. "Feed 'em up!"  
  
He left Ron and Hermione to their grumblings. Hermione shivered.  
  
"It's really cold." She said, looking up at the sky. It was an endless rolling gray, the sun was completely gone.  
  
"It's going to rain," Ron said.  
  
"Duh." Hermione replied, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Well if you know EVERYTHING, then-"  
  
"Ssshhh." Hermione said, putting a finger to her lips. "Did you feel that?"  
  
"Feel what?" Ron asked, annoyed at being interrupted.  
  
"THAT!" Hermione said, as more raindrops began falling.  
  
"Aaack!" Ron said. "Head for COVER!" He grabbed Hermoine, and they fled to the castle as the rain started coming down in a steady stream. They were almost to the castle when Hermione slipped in a quickly enlarging mud puddle. Ron started to laugh. Hermione did too.  
  
"Here," Ron said, extending a hand. Hermione accepted it and stood up. She grinned devilishly at him.  
  
"What?" He asked.  
  
"TAG!" Hermione shouted, tagging Ron lightly on the arm, and running the other way.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Ron shouted, running after her. They ran through the muck and the rain, laughing so hard they couldn't breathe as the game continued, until Hermione slipped again.  
  
"Help me up." She demanded.  
  
"But then I'll be it." Ron said.  
  
"Oh, Ron, come here." She grabbed his shirt and forced herself up.  
  
"You're it." She said. She looked up, and her stomach did a back flip. Ron was staring at her in a very strange way. Hermione locked eyes with him.  
  
The rain and wind and mud melted away, as Ron kissed her. Hermione felt as if she were in a dream, she had waited for this for years. She felt herself spinning and flipping and floating without moving at all. She could see spots of red and blue and green against her eyelids, and the world seemed to be spinning the opposite way of herself. It was amazing, exciting, wonderful, frightening, bliss, chaos and a sense of right all in one.   
  
"Hermoine?" Ron said. Hermione opened her eyes, a little disoriented after the kiss.  
  
"Hmm?" She replied.  
  
"Will you go to the Halloween Dance with me?"  
  
"Sure." Hermione replied, blushing. Ron grinned, and raced up the stairs and into the castle.  
  
Hermione followed a bit more slowly. She was aware of the rain, but she didn't mind it. She felt as if she were floating a few feet above the air. She knew there was a dopey smile on her face, but she didn't care. She floated right on up to the Gryffindor common room.  
  
"Hermione, I was wondering if you...Hermione?" Parvati said. Hermione didn't even hear her. She went right up to the dormitory.  
  
"What's her problem?" Lavender asked. She studied her best friend, who was smiling knowingly.  
  
"Hermione Granger has a boyfriend." 


	5. The Halloween Dance (this should be inte...

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Five  
  
"Ron?" Harry said, raising his eyebrows at his best friend. They were playing chess and, for the first time since Harry entered Hogwarts, he was winning. Ron was staring into oblivion with the stupidest smile on his face...Harry had thought Ron discovered how to change Malfoy into a magnifying glass or something, but he wouldn't sacrifice a chess game on Malfoy. This was something phenomenal.  
  
"Hmm?" Ron said, making a careless move and sacrificing his castle.  
  
"What's wrong?" Harry asked.  
  
"Nothing." Ron said, losing a knight. The game continued in silence for a few more minutes.  
  
"Okay....so....who are going to ask to the Halloween Dance thingy?"  
  
"No one." Ron said.  
  
"What?" Harry demanded, his black eyebrows skyrocketing upward. "You're planning to go alone?"  
  
"I never said that." Ron said, his smile becoming, if possible, even wider.  
  
"What did I miss?" Harry said.  
  
"Oh....nothing."  
  
"Ron..." Harry said in a low and almost threatening voice.  
  
"Checkmate." Ron said, moving his remaining knight. Harry stared at the chessboard in disbelief.  
  
"What...?" He said. Ron stood up.  
  
"I asked Hermione to the Dance, she said yes." He said, his smile even dopier. He fled upstairs, laughing. The look on Harry's face was PRICELESS!  
* * *  
  
"All right, guys, you're doing well." Luna said, helping Neville stand up after Hermione had thrown a particularly strong gush of water at him. "We're actually doing better than I thought we would at this point, and...Hermione, Ginny, Cho! Will you please listen?"  
  
The girls turned sheepishly in the direction of their trainer. The Halloween Dance was only three hours away, and they were all anxious to get to their dorms and prepare. Draco simply laughed at them.   
  
"Sorry." Ginny mumbled blushing. Luna sighed.  
  
"Well, I just want you five to be on alert at ALL times. We have no idea when Voldemort is going to strike. Dumbledore and I have finally decided on how we're going to keep Voldie and the Death Eaters from finding out who you are, while still making it obvious to them that YOU are the Defenders."  
  
"That made absolutely no sense." Draco pointed out.  
  
"Let's just say that when the battle DOES come, we want them to know which five of the students there are the Defenders, but we don't want them to see names and faces. We've developed a spell that will change your school robes so that they are colored and have hoods that will completely cover your heads and hide your faces. But we'll work on that tomorrow, as you girls are obviously itching to get to your dorms." She smiled. "Have fun at the dance."  
  
And, without the slightest hesitation, the girls sprinted from the office to their dorms. Neville shook his head at them and Draco scoffed.   
  
"Girls," The latter said. "Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em." Neville nodded in agreement as they left. Luna sat down at her desk, trying to concentrate on a stack of third year's reports that needed grading, but she couldn't.  
  
Almost against her will she found herself opening the bottom drawer on the left hand side of the desk. She pulled out a framed picture. Holding it in her hands, she found herself being transported back in time, to the time of the picture, to be precise. Back to the Halloween Dance in her own seventh year....  
  
  
"Dance with me," He said with a devilish grin, extending a hand.  
  
"You know I don't dance." Luna replied, refusing to get up. She looked past him, out onto the dance floor, and saw Lily Evans, a fellow Ravenclaw, and James Potter of Gryffindor dancing together. There was just something about the two of them. Funny that something like the Defenders could bring two people so close. There they looked docile and loving, but Lily's control of fire was powerful, and James could blow Hogwarts down if he wanted to.  
  
"C'mon," He said, snapping her back to the dance. "You can't just sit there like a lump all night." Luna looked up at him. She wanted what Lily and James had. Of course, the boy before her was a Defender too. He controlled water, to be precise. Maybe a good thing could come of it for her too. She sighed in defeat.  
  
"Okay, one dance." He smiled, grabbed her hand and whisked her out onto the dance floor. They started in the middle of a popular dance song among teenagers, then a waltz, and then some kind of polka. Then, some American swing music began to play. Luna didn't dance great, but she was having a wonderful time despite herself. At the end of the fast-paced song, Luna was tipped over in his arms. Laughing and out of breath, she looked up into his eyes. And in that moment, something about their relationship changed forever.   
  
"Picture!" Lily squealed, running over to them. Luna stood up, and he slipped his arms around her waist. Just before Lily snapped the picture, he started tickling Luna. She squealed with laughter, fighting his grasp...  
  
  
Luna pulled herself out of the memory. She realized she had been crying, and quickly brushed off the tears and returned to picture of that night to where it belonged.   
  
He murdered fifteen people in cold blood, Luna reminded her self. That includes Lily, James, and Peter. Sirius Black is evil now, Luna.  
  
But somehow, she couldn't bring herself to believe it.  
* * *  
  
"Should I go get some drinks?" Seamus asked. Ginny looked up and smiled. Seamus was so sweet to her.  
  
"Sure," She said. "I'll go find a table."  
  
Seamus headed off, and Ginny scanned around. She saw a small, empty table for two in the shadows. Perfect.  
  
She headed there swiftly, and sat down. No sooner had this happen when someone sat down next to her.   
  
"Seamus?" She asked turning. She found it hard to hide her surprise when she saw not Seamus, but Draco Malfoy, leaned back in the chair with his feet up on the table, looking as though he belonged there.   
  
"Afraid not, Miss Weasley." He replied, sipping a butterbeer. Ginny rolled her eyes at him.  
  
"What do YOU want, Draco." She demanded, looking out at the other tables nervously to see if Seamus was coming.   
  
"Can't I just say hello?" He asked. Ginny scowled.  
  
"You never 'just say hello' as you put it." She pointed out.   
  
"Those robes look very nice on you, Ginny." He said, gesturing to the navy satin dress robe her mother had hand stitched for Ginny over the summer.  
  
"And I suppose your going to make some comment on how I could afford them." She said coldly. She was a bit surprised at herself for being so cruel, but Draco didn't seem to mind. He gave a sly half smile and leaned across the table toward her.  
  
"I could if you wanted me to, Weasley." He said. Ginny, not really knowing what to say faltered for a moment before deciding to return to her original question.   
  
"What do you want, Draco?"   
  
"One dance. That's all I ask."   
  
Ginny stared in astonishment. Dance with Draco Malfoy? Of course, being with him in the Defender meetings, she had noticed how good-looking he was, as she had no other year. Did she want to dance with him? She had been brought up to hate him, as he was a Malfoy. And yet...something inside of her seemed to be yearning to take his hand.   
  
"Guess that's a no." Draco said with an empty smile before Ginny had decided how to deal with his suggestion. He disappeared into the shadows, and Ginny stared after him, not sure if she was relieved because of his absence, or wishing he would return.  
  
"Ginny, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Ginny turned around to look at Seamus, who was holding two butterbeers and had a concerned frown on his freckled face.   
  
"Nothing, just thinking, that's all." She replied, taking the proffered butterbeer.  
* * *  
  
This is pathetic, he thought. Simply pathetic. Harry watched as Ron twirled Hermione, and then she was back in his arms as they moved around the dance floor. After all those years of bickering, they were dating, and looking rather serious as well. Who would've guessed?  
  
He wasn't dateless, but, as with the Yule ball in fourth year, he didn't feel like he had a date. He had asked Lisa Turpin, a very pretty Ravenclaw, also in sixth year, with bouncing light brown curls and large blue eyes that looked green in the emerald dress robes she was wearing. However, she wasn't very patient with Harry's horrible dancing, and when Terry Boot had asked to cut in, Harry was all too willing.  
  
Harry tore his eyes away from Ron and Hermione. They just looked so...right together. And while Harry was happy for them...he didn't really know what it was. Jealousy? Perhaps. Fear? Why would he be afraid? His eyes drifted landing on Neville Longbottom, who was enjoying himself thoroughly with Hannah Abbot. Even Neville had a real date!  
  
Harry sighed and again let his thoughts and eyes drift. His eyes stopped again on Ginny, dancing with Seamus. Ginny, Ron's little sister, whom he had known since his first visit to the Burrow. Ginny, little Ginny, who was the shy and yet brave baby of the family. Ginny was like a little sister to Harry. Right?  
  
Then why did he have the very strong urge to punch Seamus Finnigan?  
* * *  
  
Hermione was completely oblivious to the dramas of her friends around her. She was floating in Ron's arms. Well, there was the slight problem that Ron was a horrible dancer, but that wasn't important.   
  
She could remember, like yesterday, last year's Yule ball. She had gone with Harry as a friend, because neither had a date two weeks before, and they didn't want to take the chance of going alone. At the time, Ron had been dating Samantha Michaels, a green-eyed blond who had been in fourth year at the time. Needless to say, Aunt Charlotte received many woeful letters over that little fiasco.  
  
But that was in the past. She was finally dancing where she belonged: in Ron's arms. It seemed that his dancing was a bit off balance, because while his legs were a bit unsure of the steps, his arms were almost graceful. Not that, after all these years of being his best friend, Hermione could ever really look at him as graceful.   
  
Four steps to the left, forward two, twist out, twist in...Hermione could understand how Ron got lost. However, they moved together in perfect unison, as if it were destiny that they were there together, as Hermione was sure it was. How could it be any other way? She had loved Ron for years, and now that she had him, nothing at all had changed.  
  
At 11:00 nearly all of the students under fifth year had gone to bed. Some of the couples were heading up to their dorms, or sneaking off to snog. Hermione didn't move, and, as a slow love song began to play, she rested her head on Ron's shoulder as they continued to dance. Strange how it fitted there so perfectly...  
* * *  
Harry saw those around him leave. It was then that he realized that he had spent the last half hour staring at Seamus and Ginny, and his fists were, quite against his will, clenched. Harry forced himself to relax and looked around for Lisa. She was sitting at a table near the drinks, laughing with Terry Boot over two butterbeers. That was well enough; Harry could leave without being missed.  
  
He cast one last glance at Hermione and Ron, dancing in a slow circle. Hermione was resting her head on Ron's shoulder. It all seemed so...right. Like something out of a movie. Harry smiled; despite the nagging feeling of what was probably jealousy, Harry was very happy for them. No was good enough for his two best friends but each other, and Harry had suspected for quite a while that Ron would finally wake up and smell the coffee.  
  
Harry then turned and left quickly to prevent himself from satisfying that strange, yet undeniable urge to pound Seamus into the ground.  
* * *  
Ginny continued to dance with Seamus, but she was looking over her shoulder at Hermione and her brother and fighting the urge to laugh. She could remember Ron's endless complaints about her. It didn't seem as though he had anything to complain about right now...  
  
Ginny stopped herself from sighing. Ron and Hermione just looked so comfortable together. Ginny wondered if she would ever be like that. But with whom? Seamus? No, while she liked Seamus, it was more like an extended friendship that love, though Ginny didn't have the heart to tell him so. Harry? Ginny's six year long crush on Harry was finally beginning to subside, something she was very grateful for, so she wasn't about to put the thought of her and Harry slow dancing together in her head...again.  
  
Draco? A small voice in her head said. DRACO?! Where did THAT come from? Draco was...  
  
Actually, Ginny didn't know WHAT Draco was. A friend? Certainly not; they hardly knew each other. They wouldn't have even been calling each other by the first name, had they not both been defenders. How could something as wonderful as love come from something like that?  
  
Little did Ginny know that twenty years earlier, on that very dance floor, Lily Evans and Luna Starlight both had had that exact same thought.  
* * *  
How did I never notice how beautiful she was? Ron questioned himself. He was walking back to the Gryffindor common room, holding Hermione by the hand. He had never even considered looking at her as more than a friend before this year...well, not seriously, anyway. How could he have ignored the angel that had been sitting next to him all these years. How stupid he was!  
  
They reached the foot of the staircases, and Ron leaned over and kissed her. He loved kissing her, it made him feel like he could fly.  
  
"Goodnight, Hermione," He said softly.  
  
"Goodnight, Ron," She replied in a whisper. She turned and ran up the stairs, and Ron looked after her for a moment before climbing the stairs to his own dorm. Hermione. He had never noticed how beautiful that name was before.  
  
Ron walked into his dorm and fell into his bed without even changing into his pajamas. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, dreaming of her.   
  
It hadn't even occurred to him that Harry was only pretending to be asleep. 


	6. The robes change color! Coolio!

A/N Wow everybody. This is, by far, my most popular story. Thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed, lovya! ^_~ I'm writing this as fast as possible to keep up with your demands. Special thanks to star*dust (as always, my dear blond friend) SPW (hehe, Minx is demanding some spotlight in Behind the Scenes. She's rather miffed, and just came back from a long chat with your phoenix) NyghtMistress, daydreamer, Britz, and Sarah Fellowrighter, who have left either more than one review or a really really nice one that made my head swell up. If I forgot you and you left more than one review, I apologize profusely, and just leave me another one, yell at me, and I'll make sure to mention you in Ch 7. Read and Review!  
  
Dedication: Okay, okay. This PARTICULAR Ch is dedicated to Sierra Charm as an apology for forgetting to mention her as Willow Weeping in my story 'In Loving Memory'. Sorry dearie. However, after much thought, I've decided to dedicate the rest of the story to SPW for giving me such a cool part in her fics 'Emerald Fire*' and 'Indigo Fire*' Go read that after you get done her, dears. It's really good.  
  
Geez, I don't think I've ever left an A/N on this story before. I'd better stop babbling. ON TO CHAPTER SIX! Enjoy!   
  
  
  
For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Six  
  
"We're progressing nicely." Luna said, helping Neville to his feet. "Now, about those robes I mentioned the other day, it is simply a spell to change the color of your robes and add hoods. Cho, come here."  
  
Cho stood and walked over to Luna. "So how does this work?" She questioned.  
  
"Well," Luna said, as if trying to find the words to properly explain. "Just...you'll have different colored robes. It's not a big deal, really." She shrugged. "Okay, just point your wand to yourself and say 'Borsroloc'."   
  
"Okay," Cho replied, pulling out her wand, and following Luna's instructions. "Borsroloc." A flash of light swooped around her less than a second, and then she was donning a hooded robe of pale baby blue, like the sky on a cloudless spring morning. It suited her nicely, Hermione noted.  
  
"Hermione," Luna said, motioning for her to come forward and do the same.  
  
"Borsroloc." Hermione said. She looked down, and started in surprise to not find herself wearing the mandatory black school robes, but lavish turquise, like the tropical sea.  
  
She watched as Neville, Ginny, and Draco went through the same process. Neville had a deep forest green; Draco, a icy gray that matched his eyes; and Ginny, a fiery red the matched her hair to such a perfection that you could not tell her locks from the robe. Luna smiled with satisfaction.  
  
"There you are." She said. "Now..." She looked off into space for a moment, as if trying to remember something. Then she shook herself out of it. "That seems to cover everything of importance. You may take your leave." She turned to sit down at her desk.  
  
"Erm, Professor?" Neville said, as the others tried not to laugh TOO loud. "How do we change the robes back again?"  
  
"Oh, right." Luna said, blushing ever so slightly. It was the first blunder the five had ever seen her make. "The spell is 'Disborx' okay?" She then turned back to her papers, avoiding their laughing eyes.  
  
"Disborx." The five said in almost perfect unison.  
  
"We sound like Valley Girls." Hermione said, rolling her eyes. The others (all purebloods) looked at her curiously.   
  
"Never mind," She sighed as they left. Luna swallowed hard, forcing the memories back.  
  
Hermione was the second Muggle born to ever be chosen as a Defender. Lily Evans had been the first.  
* * *  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all sitting down to breakfast in the Great Hall right before they left for the Hogsmeade trip. Ron and Hermione sat very close, and kept looking at each other in a way that Harry had never seen before. That wasn't entirely true, Harry thought with a grin. Hermione had been looking at Ron that way for years.   
  
He laughed aloud, remembering that Ron had been completely oblivious. His friends both turned and raised their eyebrows.  
  
"And WHAT, precisely is so funny?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Just...you two!" Harry doubled over. Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
"Men." She said.  
  
"Excuse me?" Ron replied, in a voice of mock hurt.  
  
"I said, 'men'. Got a problem with it?" She challenged. Ron pretended to think for a moment.  
  
"I don't know, what do you think Harry?" Harry had just emerged from his laughing fit. He looked from one to the other...and began laughing again. Ron shrugged.  
  
"Guess that's a 'no'" He said.  
  
"Good...what were we arguing about again?" Hermione asked. As Ron and Harry collapsed with laughter, thousands of owls swooped into the Great Hall. Hermione looked up desperately. She was still awaiting a reply from Aunt Charlotte, whom she had written a week ago telling her the good news of her and Ron.  
  
The brown school owl dropped a piece of parchment right into her eggs. Eagerly, Hermione opened it and read the letter.  
  
  
Dear Hermione,  
Congratulations! I told you one day that fickle Ron boy would come around. It looks like you have found someone serious. Uh oh, better not tell your father!   
How was the dance? You must write and tell me as soon as possible. I remember my first dance with your Uncle Bill. If you had as much fun as I did, I'm sure you have a lot to tell me.  
Things are going fine her in old Muggle Kent. One of the cats, Sprinkles, is going to have kittens any day now. How are things at Hogwarts? And your studies?  
I can't wait to meet Ron. This summer, perhaps? You simply must come this summer; I don't know what I'll do without you. Keep in touch! The cats and I miss you!  
~All my love,  
Aunt Charlotte  
  
  
Hermione smiled. Yes, she did intend to go there this summer and not to Nova Scotia, thank God.   
  
"Who's that from?" Ron demanded, trying to read the letter over Hermione's shoulder. She hid it from him, grinning.   
  
"No, Ron, It's none of your business!"  
  
"C'mon, please?" He whined, snatching for the letter.  
  
"No!" She said, trying desperately to keep the piece of paper out of the reach of Ron's long arms. Harry just rolled his eyes, and looked the other.   
  
Why am I watching Ginny again? He questioned himself as he saw the red haired girl laughing with some of her friends. And why did he suddenly think she was beautiful? And what, in Merlin's name, was that peculiar feeling tugging in his chest, drawing him nearer to Ginny Weasley?  
* * *   
  
Ginny bit her lip, forcing herself to turn back to the conversation her friends were having. Why did her eyes wander to him? She could NOT have feelings for him. He certainly didn't have feelings for her.   
  
"Ginny?" Gabbie said, waving a hand in front of the girl's face. Ginny shook herself mentally to bring herself back to reality.  
  
"Yeah, yeah," She replied, sounding distracted. She went back to studying for Potions. All her friends simply shrugged; they had noticed that, as of late, it always seemed as if Ginny weren't all there. However, that was Ginny for you, always shifting. She'd come around.   
  
But, little did they know, Ginny was NOT going to come around for quite a while. Perhaps it was because she was the youngest, but Ginny was the first to have her schoolwork and social life affected by being a Defender. The only classes remaining in what Ginny considered 'high marks' status were Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures, for obvious reasons.   
  
Ginny struggled through the day, disgusted with herself for her mark on the written Transfiguration test McGonagall handed back that day. She was not any happier when Luna sent her a summons directly after dinner when she needed to study. However, Ginny did not regret her decision to be a Defender. Such a thought had never even crossed her mind. She had been brought up to do everything she could to fight the Dark Lord, and now she had the chance to really make a difference, and she wasn't about to pass it up.  
  
"Okay." Luna said as the five took the seats they had grown accustomed to. Cho sat on the end near the window, Neville on her left, followed by Hermione, Ginny, and finally Draco. Since the dance, Ginny found her chair was closer to Draco's than it had been before. But who was moving; Draco or Ginny?  
  
"I just thought of something today that I probably should have started preparing you for quite a while ago. You do realize that I cannot and will not help you with your strategies on fighting Voldemort when he comes?" This was met with murmurings from the five students. "You will have to sort that out on your own. I suggest you let Hermione and Cho do most of the mechanical work, since they are the brains here. And because Hermione knows the layout of the school better that the rest of you." Hermione blushed, and swore she saw Luna wink at her. Could it be that Luna knew Hermione had access to a map of the school?   
  
"Draco and Ginny are good brainstormers." Luna continued. "They'll probably come up the beginnings of anything you put together as far as where to place people and quickly getting from point a to point b and other such necessities. Neville, you have a knack for knowing what is needed, and therefore you'll probably bring up 'hey we need to have a backup plan for this' or 'what if this happens'. Don't be afraid to speak up, even if it sounds stupid. Trust me, many situations that sound stupid here are likely to happen out there.  
  
"And with that, I'd like to leave you alone to congregate. Besides, I think you five need to get a tad bit better acquainted." Luna smiled as if she knew something they didn't. "I don't know when I'll be back, so just leave whenever you feel it is time. I'm not your babysitter." And without another word, she shut the door behind her.  
  
"So," Hermione said, trying to ease the uptight atmosphere. "I think we should start by sitting in a circle?"  
  
Everyone obliged, and people started mumbling. But in a few moments actual language was produced, and Ginny was amazed by what was getting accomplished in such a short time. In excited voices they would interrupt one another, bursting with ideas and suggestions.   
  
However, teenagers are rarely able to stay on one topic for very long. They get bored and wander on to something else, as was the case tonight. 45 minutes after Luna left, they were not discussing battle tactics at all.  
  
"So!" Said Cho loudly over the uproar of laughter at Draco's ridiculous (and rather rude) bar joke. "A priest, a warlock, a Frenchman, a rabbi, and a blond go into a bar, and the bartender says 'what is this, a joke?'" The other four went into uproars of laughter. As Ginny giggled, she studied the way the others laughed. Hermione's shoulders shook and she had a hand over her mouth. Neville laughed with a wide, good-natured smile. Draco laughed with either his head back or bent forward, an odd contradiction. He never laughed for long, but his eyes would laugh to, if he was sincerely amused. Ginny couldn't help but think he was cuter than usual when he laughed.  
  
"Oh my god!" Hermione exclaimed after checking her watch. "I must go upstairs and study, I have a charms test tomorrow!"   
  
"Aw, c'mon Hermione." Neville said. But Hermione refused to be wavered and left. Soon Neville too left, claiming he had the same test and needed to study a lot more than Hermione did. Cho left shortly after that, claiming she promised a friend she would help her with some essay or another. Ginny realized, with a surge of uneasiness and excitement, that she was alone with Draco. Her uneasy feelings and her brain overtook her excitement, though she couldn't ignore the fact that her heart had started beating much more quickly than was normal.  
  
"Well, I guess I had better get back to the common room." She said, standing up and heading for the door. She was reaching for the doorknob when Draco grabbed her other arm.  
  
"What?" She asked, rather annoyed.  
  
"Don't you know that a Malfoy never takes 'no' for an answer?" He asked. Before Ginny could ask what he was talking about, they were dancing.  
  
Surprised, Ginny allowed herself to be swept around and twirled, and (to her shock) she found herself enjoying it. It was funny, there was no music and no beat, but she and Draco moved in perfect unison...as if it had been a well rehearsed act for the stage.  
  
"You're a very good dancer." Ginny remarked as they slowly twirled in a circle. Draco smiled...or smirked. Ginny found it rather hard to tell the difference with him.  
  
"My mother made me take lessons for years, so I should hope so." He responded. They danced in silence for a few more minutes, and Ginny couldn't help but notice that her heart was beating faster than normal and her breathing was irregular. The more aware she was that she was in Draco's arms, the more she thought that she DID hear music, a beautiful, exotic tune from the part of her mind responsible for daydreams and inspiration.  
  
"Would you mind if I asked you a personal question?" Draco asked. Ginny laughed.  
  
"Yes, but I can't promise that I will answer." Draco twirled her out, and then back again.  
  
"Is Seamus your boyfriend?" He asked. Ginny frowned.  
  
"No." She said. "We just went to the dance, that's all. I told him that we weren't serious, and he seem okay with it."  
  
"Can I ask you another question?" He said.  
  
"Why don't you just ask instead of asking to ask first?" Ginny said. Then she giggled at herself. "That made no sense, did it?"  
  
"Actually, I think I got the general gist of it," Draco said.  
  
"Well then you understood it better than me. But go ahead with your question." Ginny replied.  
  
"Do you still like Harry Potter?" He said this with his eyebrows raised, and for some reason Ginny knew this meant that he was really curious. Once again she frowned.  
  
"Why do you want to know?" She replied, deciding to answer his question with a question. He shrugged, his steps and movements never faltering.  
  
"Just curious." Something about the way he was looking at her made Ginny sigh, and give in.  
  
"Not really." She said. "Not like I used to at all."  
  
"Good." Draco said. "Then I won't get in any trouble." And without warning, he halted in midstep, wrapped his arms around Ginny's waist, and kissed her.  
  
The soft music Ginny had been hearing exploded like a blooming daylily, nearly deafening her. Ginny kissed him back, feeling herself being lifted off her feet. This was the love she had been looking for all these years. Not in Harry, but in his enemy, Draco Malfoy. Ginny felt as if she were being swept by a current, moving so fast that she was still. It was exhilarating and chaotic and hopelessly wonderful.  
  
When Draco pulled away, Ginny discovered that her arms were around his neck, and she didn't remember putting them there. Without her even knowing it she was grinning broadly.  
  
"So, Miss Weasley, do I kiss as well as I dance?" 


	7. Ron has a dream

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Seven  
  
"Hermione?" Hermione looked up from the book to see Ginny, looking rather timid.   
  
"Yes?" She asked, trying to be patient. She REALLY needed to study for this Charm's test!  
  
"Can I talk to you?" She asked, then nodded pointedly at Ron. "Alone?" Interest boosted in the extreme, Hermione obliged by following her to a secluded corner.  
  
"What is it, Ginny?" Hermione asked kindly, sitting down next to the chair Ginny had, unknowingly, as if her mind were somewhere else, sat. She looked at Hermione.  
  
"What is it like, Hermione? The first time you kissed Ron?" Ginny asked without preamble. Hermione was taken aback at Ginny's question. This, of all things, was NOT what she had expected.  
  
"Well, it was..." Hermione struggled for words. She could, of course, remember in exact detail the fulfillment of her long-awaited desire to kiss Ron. She could remember every detail, every raindrop, and every millisecond of that eternal minute of time. But words...no words could describe that feeling. Hermione smiled. "It was indescribable." She smiled, and the severity of the emotions in the memory communicated itself the Ginny. Much the same way it had been when Draco had kissed her.  
  
"Are you in love with him?" She asked. Hermione raised her eyebrows. Ginny was certainly full of unexpected questions tonight.  
  
"Yes." Hermione said, realizing it for the first time herself how much she really LOVED Ron. How different it was from the way she loved Harry and Ginny and everyone else. She realized why it felt so right, yet confused her. She realized, in that single syllable, that the storybooks she had scorned as a child for being impractical were perfectly practical. She was living a storybook love. She smiled, radiating a sense of realized wisdom that GINNY had not been expecting. "Yes, Ginny. I love Ron with everything I know."  
  
"I was just curious, because I think I may, well, nevermind." Ginny blushed a deep scarlet, and stood to leave, but Hermione caught her arm and forced her to sit again.  
  
"What is going on, Ginny Weasley." She searched her friends' eyes, and felt her own widen with understanding. "Oh my God," She breathed. "Who, Ginny? Who?"   
  
"Draco Malfoy." She whispered, and Hermione, having nothing to say, said nothing.  
* * *   
  
Ginny and Draco were teased mercilessly at the Defender meetings. Even Luna participated in the game of who-can-make-Ginny-redder. However, thankfully for them, the other three Defenders swore to secrecy on the subject, and the only teasing they received outside these now almost daily meetings was a gesture or a whisper from Hermione, Neville, or Cho.   
  
However, while those who knew said nothing, Ron wasn't COMPLETELY oblivious to the goings-on of his little sister. He, and by association Harry, were becoming rather suspicious of Ginny. Hermione found it exceedingly annoying.  
  
"What do you think is up with her?" Ron questioned. Hermione choked on her pumpkin juice, trying not to make it too obvious that she was laughing, not gagging in shock.  
  
"I, um, dunno?" And with that, Hermione had to excuse herself from the table and "go to the bathroom." (In other words, running out where she could laugh hysterically without looking suspicious.  
  
"What's do you think is up with HER?" Harry replied, motioning to Hermione. Ron shrugged.  
  
"Your guess is as good as mine." Ron said. They began to talk with the full interest of having a meaningful relationship. However, boys will be boys, and the conversation, inevitably turned to Quidditch.   
  
Hermione did return in a few minutes and sat down to finish her half eaten lunch. She was just raising her fork when a little red summons was dropped onto her lap.  
  
"Why does Hermione always get the summons?" Ron whined once Hermione was out of hearing distance.  
  
"Ginny gets them every time Hermione does." Harry said.  
  
"She does?" Ron sounded rather surprised. "I hadn't noticed. Why are you noticing my sister, Harry?" Ron was teasing, and he laughed and continued to eat. Harry forced a laugh, trying not to blush. He had been asking himself the same question often recently.  
  
Why am I watching Ginny Weasley every time I get the chance?  
* * *  
  
Ron was standing on a front lawn of a house in a residential area. He was watching in horror as the house across the street was surrounded by Death Eaters. They went in fearlessly.  
  
A sudden switch in perception. He was no longer himself, but simply watching, like a movie, as three Death Eaters entered the room. He was in a bedroom, he noticed. There was a pretty, middle-aged woman sitting up in bed and watching the cloaked figures in horror. Ron strained, but he couldn't hear one syllable of the word exchange, until the tallest Death Eater raised his wand, pointing it at the woman.  
  
"Avada Kedavra." He hissed. Ron's eyes widened as the green swoosh of death took the woman's life before she even had a chance to scream. A with cat with black paws came up to her and laid down, as if mourning, followed by two other felines.  
  
Ron was back on the lawn again. The Death Eaters were apparating away. The last one, the same one who killed the woman, pointed his wand to the sky. A flash of green swept the sky. Ron looked up to see a serpent-tongued green skull grinning evilly down at him.  
  
Ron felt himself being pulled up toward the skull's foreboding mouth. Ron put his hands in front of his face to protect himself, but he was still being sucked in...  
  
He was no longer on the dark street, but in Dumbledore's office. The headmaster was handing Hermione an envelope. Once again, Ron could not here what he was telling Hermione, but it seemed to have quite an effect. She slumped down into a chair, looking shocked. What was going on? He didn't understand...  
  
Ron sat up suddenly, gasping for breath. What a strange dream!  
* * *  
  
The next day Hermione was sitting in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Luna was giving a long lecture on something or other, but Hermione wasn't paying attention. Ever since becoming a Defender Luna had not only left her alone in class, but she could catch the information in much more detail later. She was staring out the window, watching an owl fly up, toward Dumbledore's tower.  
  
Normally she would've paid attention anyway, but Hermione had a funny feeling that day. What is was, she wasn't quite sure. Nobody else seemed to be feeling that way...  
  
Hermione was brought out of her trance a few minutes later. An owl swooped into the classroom. Hermione was shocked when it dropped a red summons onto her lap.  
  
What is THIS all about? Hermione wondered in surprise. The summons were used for Luna's Defender meetings. And here she was, in Luna's class! She picked up the red note card, and flipped it over. Professor Dumbledore, it read. Hermione's heart jumped into her throat. What would Professor Dumbledore want with her?  
  
"Well, Miss Granger?" Luna said. Hermione flinched. Luna was still incredibly strict in her classroom, and made no exceptions for the Defenders. "Who summoned you?"  
  
"Professor Dumbledore, L-Professor." She looked up at Luna, whose eyes betrayed the fact that she was as confused as Hermione. However the rest of her demeanor showed nothing.  
  
"Well, what are you waiting for?" She demanded. "You are a prefect, you know the password to Dumbledore's office! Go!" Luna watched as Hermione stood, gathered her books, and left the classroom.  
  
Why is the Heamaster summoning me? Hermione wondered once again, somewhat desperately. What could I have done? Hermione searched her mind for answers, but still had none when she reached the gargoyle.  
  
"Jelly Slugs." She said, and when the gargoyle jumped aside, she jogged up the staircase to Dumbledore's office. She was about to knock on the door when he answered it. Hermione noticed immediately that he was somber, more so then Hermione had ever seen him. Well, that wasn't entirely true, (she had, after all, seen him several times with Harry after Harry had nearly died doing something heroic) but it was the first time Hermione had seen him so somber about something pertaining to HER.  
  
"This will only take a second, Miss Granger." He said, motioning for her to come inside. Hermione did so, becoming more and more curious be the moment. "Please, take a seat."  
  
Hermione didn't take a seat. "If it will be quick, Professor, I'd rather stand. I've been sitting all class and I think my legs are going numb.  
  
"As you wish." He replied, sitting down and sighing heavily. "There really is no way to beat around the bush about this, Miss Granger. This morning the Dark Mark was spotted." Hermione just stared. Voldemort was using the Dark Mark again? "It was in a Muggle neighborhood, so, of course, the Ministry was dispatched immediately to clear up Muggle curiosity, and to...ah, identify the body." Dumbledore swallowed, as if he was treading on dangerous ground. Hermione continued to wait expectantly. "I'm sorry, Hermione," Dumbledore said as he picked a thin white envelope off his desk and handed it to her, as she started to slump down into the chair. "It was your Aunt Charlotte."  
  
The world stopped, and Hermione dropped her books and fell down into the chair with a 'flump' in shock. She robotically took the envelope, but didn't read it.  
  
Aunt Charlotte was dead. Hermione couldn't force herself to believe this. She looked up into Dumbledore's eyes expecting him to say that she wasn't REALLY dead. But that's not what he said. Dumbledore wasn't even LOOKING at her, but down at his desk.  
  
"You'll be leaving on the Hogwarts Express in about an hour. Your parents will be waiting to take you home for the funeral. You'll be back in a week. I will notify all your teachers." He looked up, and it hit Hermione that Dumbledore was NOT going to change his mind. His eyes held sympathy and...something more. Hate, she realized. He hates Voldemort. However, this did not console her.  
  
"I'll understand if you don't want to go back to class..."   
  
"No, it's fine." Hermione's voice sounded distant and surreal to her own ears. She stood and left, not even realizing that she had left her books lying on the floor of Dumbledore's office.  
  
As she walked slowly, robotically back down to Luna's classroom, the bell rang. She didn't even here it. Students pushed toward the Great Hall, but Hermione kept on against the crowd, not noticing them. As she walked she opened the letter and read:  
  
  
Miss Hermione Granger,  
  
We regret to inform you that in Voldemort's latest attack Charlotte Granger, your aunt, was killed. We at the Ministry send our regards and sympathy.  
  
Cornelius Fudge,  
Minister of Magic  
  
  
Hermione slipped the pitiful condolence letter back into its envelope. She continued her robotic journey down a corridor. Her feet carried her without her brain controlling them, and somehow she managed to get to Luna's classroom.   
  
Ron and Harry were standing outside, waiting impatiently for her.  
  
"Let's GO Hermione, I'm starving and...Hermione?" Hermione walked right past Ron into the classroom, not even noticing her two best friends. Ron looked Harry. Harry looked at Ron. They both looked into the classroom, eavesdropping.   
  
Luna looked up from her paperwork. Her expression changed immediately from one of patience to one of anxious surprise.  
  
"What's wrong, Hermione?" She asked, her voice soothing and kind. Hermione, sniffling, handed her the letter. Luna took it and, with a curious look at Hermione, opened it.  
  
"What's going on?" Ron hissed.  
  
"Shhh!" Harry replied, straining. Was it just his imagination, or did Professor Starlight just call Hermione by her first name?   
  
Luna glanced at the letter, and her eyes opened wide.  
  
"Oh, Hermione..." She said. Hermione couldn't hold it in any longer. She started to cry. Luna gave her a hug and Hermione cried and cried and cried, holding onto to her like a shipwrecked passenger to the last life raft out at sea. 


	8. Um...the aftermath? I don't know what to...

A/N Not a lot happens in this ch. Okay, SOMETHING happens, but nothing lifechanging. To Hermione, anyway. Oh what am I going on about? Just r/r, okies? Okies!  
  
  
  
For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Eight  
  
Though the Hogwarts Express was as majestic as ever, it only carried two people, one of which was the conductor. The large scarlet steam engine raced along the tracks, like an overworked factory employee eager to get home for supper.  
  
Hermione Granger sat in her lonely compartment, staring out of the window with only her backpack for company. Dumbledore had notified all of her teachers of where she would be for the next two weeks, and she had all her work from them. But, for the first time in her life, Hermione wasn't even thinking about her studies.  
  
She couldn't even see the beautiful English countryside that flew past outside the window. She kept seeing memories, like still Muggle photographs, of times she had had with Aunt Charlotte. She would also, from time to time, completely forget where she was and immerse herself in a memory.  
  
~~~~~ "So Penelope and I turned the corner and WHAM there it was, the basilisk!" Hermione said enthusiastically. Aunt Charlotte laughed.  
"Careful there, dear." She said. "Your getting flour everywhere! You roll THIS way. That's it. Now, remind me again what a basilisk is?"  
"It's a giant snake." Hermione explained patiently, carefully monitoring how she was rolling the piecrust. "If you look at it, it kills you. But, like I said, Penelope and I saw the REFLECTION of it, so we were petrified, which is like turning into stone."  
"Really, now?" She replied, her soft cinnamon eyes, identical to those of Hermione and her father, laughing. "Well, continue."  
"Well, being petrified is like being asleep." Hermione said. "So the next thing you know...BAM! I'm awake, shrieking about the basilisk!" Hermione said this with wild gestures, sending flour settling into the hair of both her and Aunt Charlotte. Both the twelve-year-old and the twenty-eight-year-old looked as if she had aged thirty years. They collapsed into a fit of laughter...~~~~~  
  
Hermione was jerked, both literally and theoretically, out of her memory as the train jolted to a halt outside the platform at King's Cross. She lifted her backpack and stepped out of her compartment. The platform was completely devoid of anyone. Hermione blinked back tears as the train pulled away again.   
  
Without thinking, she crossed the magical barrier. Luckily no one noticed but Charles and Elizabeth Granger, her parents, who were waiting outside platform ten. They saw their daughter and rushed to her.  
  
"Oh, Honey..." Her mom said as Hermione began to cry bitterly into her mother's shoulder. Her father only watched with compassion. It was his sister who had died, so he was hardly in the frame of mind to comfort his daughter. But he tried, squeezing her tightly and trying to be strong. Charlotte and Hermione had been so fond of one another.  
  
"C'mon," Elizabeth said, taking her daughter by the hand. "Let's go home." Charles shot a grateful look at his wife before taking Hermione's other hand and leading her out of the station, as if she were four instead of sixteen.  
* * *  
Harry and Ron were in Divination, pondering over Hermione's odd behavior.  
  
"Why was she crying?" Harry demanded in frustration to no one in particular. "And WHY did she go crying to Starlight, of all people?"  
  
Ron had been uncharacteristically quiet, considering they were in transfiguration discussing something seriously wrong with his girlfriend. Harry had noticed this too, and it puzzled him as much as Hermione's actions. Ron had always talked with Harry about the strange things she did, and it had only gotten worse since they were a couple.  
  
"I wonder..." Ron said, and then shook himself out of it. They were both talking in whispers and trying not to inhale too much of Trelawny's nearly toxic perfume, which just seemed to get stronger every term. Luckily, Trelawny was babbling about...something or other, and not paying the two Gryffindor boys any attention whatsoever.  
  
"You wonder what?" Harry asked, both curious and annoyed.  
  
"I had this weird dream last night..."   
  
"Hermione went crying to Professor Starlight and completely blew us off and your worried about a DREAM!" Harry hissed, now really annoyed.  
  
"I saw a Muggle woman." Ron continued, as if Harry had never interrupted. "Death Eaters swarmed her house and killed her. Then I saw Hermione in Dumbledore's office. He handed her an envelope..." Ron said this squinting as if trying to remember it. The details were quite unclear, but Ron was pretty sure that was the basic gist of it.  
  
"And...?" Harry replied, not making the connection. Ron rolled his eyes.  
  
"Harry, I think-" But he was cut short by an owl that was tapping impatiently on the window. The entire class turned to look at it as Harry opened the window to let it in. It glided over to Neville and dropped a little red summons into his lap. Neville didn't even look at it; he just stood, waved at the class, and walked out.  
  
"Lucky bugger." Ron hissed, staring at Neville's back.  
  
Neville wasn't even thinking about what was going on in the Divination classroom. He was glad Luna had sent him a summons, because he had had a funny feeling all day. He raced down to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and found Ginny, Draco, Cho, and Luna were already inside.  
  
"Where's Hermione?" He asked, looking around and instantaneously noticing the empty chair where she usually sat.  
  
"That's what I summoned you all about." Luna said, gulping.  
  
"Hermione's constant absences?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Don't get smart, Draco." Luna replied. "Hermione won't be here for the next couple of weeks."  
  
"WHAT?" The remaining Defenders exclaimed. Luna quieted them with the raise of her hand.  
  
"This is very serious." She said. "Hermione...she went home. Her Muggle home."  
  
"Why?" Draco asked, the only one who dared break the 'silence' rule.   
  
"Because," Luna said, ignoring Draco and looking as though she was trying not to cry. "She has to go to a funeral. Her beloved Aunt was found dead this morning. Murdered by Voldemort." At these words, everyone reacted differently. Cho's eyes widened and the sucked in breath as if winded. Neville started rocking back and forth, looking as though he were trying not to be sick. Draco went very rigid, as if trying to control something. Ginny put one hand over her mouth so that all of her face that you could see were her saucer-sized eyes, and her other hand flew to Draco's arm, and she clutched it desperately. Luna did nothing.  
  
"I told you that Voldemort has taken something from each of you that you hold very dear. If you remember, Hermione didn't know to what I was referring. That was because nothing had been taken from her yet. Hermione loved her Aunt dearly. She wrote letters to her more often than to her parents. Hermione turned to her for advice that she could not get from anyone else. She was her role model, and the only of Hermione's Muggle relatives, other than her parents, to know of her magical studies. This was a tremendous blow to her and her character. Dumbledore will be (briefly) explaining this to everyone tonight at dinner, but I wanted you to know in advance. I'm going to leave, but you may stay for the remainder of the class, if you wish."  
  
Luna left before any of them could say anything, mainly because she didn't want them to see her blink and blow her nose like she was the one whose Aunt had died.  
  
Everyone else just stared, until Ginny, speaking slowly, broke the silence.  
  
"Well, now we know what Voldemort took from Hermione." She said, forcing herself to say the Dark Lord's name. "I think it's fair that we all know what...he took from us." She looked around cautiously to see how the others would react. To her great surprise, every one of them nodded or mumbled agreement.  
  
"Not until Hermione gets back though," Cho whispered. "I want some...time." Again everyone, including Ginny agreed. Her face was determined, although she was really in turmoil. Telling them this was betraying one of her family's darkest secrets, and she didn't know if she could bring herself to do it.   
  
Everyone at different times got up and left. Soon it was only Draco and Ginny. Ginny scooted her chair next to his, and he took her hand.  
  
Ginny looked at his face, and was overcome in a wave of worry. His eyebrows were drawn together and he was looking downward at the floor, as if something there could answer a question.  
  
"Are you okay?" She whispered. He looked up, and smiled weakly. Then he pulled her over until she was sitting right on his lap.  
  
"Promise that you won't leave after I tell you." He whispered. Ginny nodded, and Draco sighed with relief. They heard the bell ring, although it sounded far off and distant.  
  
"C'mon," He said, "We'd better go to lunch."  
* * *  
Sirius Black was hungry. No, no, no, STARVING was a better word. Hungry is when it's 8:00 and you had lunch at 11. Starving was when it's 4:00 Friday, and you haven't eaten your last *very* small meal since 8:00 Wednesday, thus you see the difference.  
  
In any case, he was, in his canine form, on the prowl for some form... ANY form of food. Therefore he was overjoyed when he smelled a rat. The hunt began, and he sniffed and sniffed until he tracked down its hiding place. Looking around to make sure no one was near, he transformed. It was much easier to catch the rodent in his human form.  
  
In next to no time he had caught it. He pulled it out and grinned at it maliciously, as a vulture would grin at the carcass below, if vultures could grin. He was looking at it hungrily; examining it, when something in the sunlight glinted. With a frown, Sirius examined it more closely.  
  
He felt his eyes widen. This rat had a silver paw.  
* * *  
Harry and Ron were still puzzled as they walked down to the Great Hall for lunch. They waited for Hermione at their usual meeting place, but she never showed. They stopped Lisa Turpin, a Ravenclaw in her Arithmancy class, to ask about her. She told them Hermione never came to class, but Professor Vector hardly seemed surprised, which only served to further puzzle the boys.  
  
They were about to enter the Great Hall, when a hand fell on Ron's shoulder. He looked around, and saw Dumbledore standing behind him. He was looking unusually solemn.   
  
"Mr. Weasley, there is something we need to discuss. It will only take a second. You too, Mr. Potter." The Headmaster steered them both out of the crowd and into the nearest classroom.  
  
"Whatever it was, Professor, I didn't do it, I swear!" Ron said wildly. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.  
  
"It's nothing of that sort, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, and the boys let out a sigh of relief. "It's about Miss Granger." So much for relief. If her odd behavior was of the Headmaster's concerns, then it probably wasn't good news.  
  
"I'm going to explain a little bit to everyone in the hall, but I wanted to tell you two first." He sighed, making him look nearly as old as he really was. "Hermione has gone home for a few weeks. Her Aunt Charlotte was murdered. Voldemort, of course." Harry and Ron stared at Dumbledore. This was the last thing they had expected.   
  
"But..." Ron said, dumbfounded. He had heard Hermione speak of 'Aunt Charlotte' before. She had loved her aunt like a second mother.  
  
"Why Hermione?" Harry asked, something that was also puzzling Ron. He wasn't about to say it outright, but Harry seemed the obvious suspect for confusing and pulling out of school.   
  
"The Dark Lord works in mysterious ways," Dumbledore replied cryptically. Harry and Ron suspected that he knew more, but knew that it was useless to ask. If Dumbledore wanted to tell you something, then he did, and if he didn't, you knew it.  
* * *  
As her father gave the eulogy, Hermione cried bitterly. She hated Voldemort, hated him, hated him, HATED HIM!  
  
Why Aunt Charlotte? She had never done anything against him except have a niece. She had never raised Muggle resistance or any such nonsense. She had never done...anything, as far as Hermione could see. But then, out of nowhere, the sound of her father's voice was overpowered by someone else's...Luna's.  
  
~ "The Dark Lord has taken something from each of you, something you hold dear..."  
  
Then Hermione's voice, sounding childish and far away.  
  
"What did she mean, the Dark Lord has taken something you hold dear? What was she talking about?"~  
  
Now I know, Hermione thought bitterly. Everyone else already had someone killed, now me. This is my fault.  
  
No! No it is NOT! You cannot start thinking like this Hermione Granger, she scolded herself.   
  
But that didn't stop her or her father from crying all the way home. 


	9. A LOT of stuff

A/N Okay, this ch is pretty long, and a LOT happens in it. So pay attention! Enjoy, and please review, reviews make me happy!  
  
  
  
  
For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Nine  
  
Sirius was deliriously happy. He had not been happy like this since...well, since he had become free of the clutches of the Dementors at Azkaban. Why, you ask? He had captured Peter Pettigrew, the traitorous rat that brought about Lily and James's deaths, not to mention Padfoot's dozen-year imprisonment.  
  
He had fashioned a cage for Pettigrew, one from which he could not escape. At first, Sirius was going to kill him. He didn't know how, but he wanted Wormtail to die, most likely a slow and very painful death.  
  
But then he had come to his senses. If he waited, and took Wormtail to Dumbledore...he could have his name cleared. He could live his life. He could have custody of Harry.  
  
And so, Sirius planned to travel to Hogwarts and somehow arrange a meeting with Harry. It was harder than normal, having to lug Wormtail around, but it would be worth it in the end. For the first time in fifteen years, Sirius Black could see the gold at the end of the rainbow.  
  
And maybe, just maybe, after his name was cleared he could find Luna...  
* * *  
Luna sat at her desk, her face buried in her hands. Voldemort was moving fast, now that he had the Dementors on his side. She was growing ever more uneasy with Hermione's absence. She was to return tomorrow night. However, Luna didn't think she'd be in any functional state of mind for another few weeks, at least.  
  
However, one good thing had come of this. The Defenders were finally going through the last stage of bonding: trusting each other with secrets that no one else, or at the very least hardly any one else, knew.   
  
She could distinctly remember everything that had been told when she and the other Defenders of her generation had first confessed to each other. Of course, it had been easier for them, as none of them had been enemies previous to Defending. It was not so easy for this group, because Draco Malfoy offset them. However, Luna knew in her heart that there was a lot more to drawling Malfoy then he let on.  
  
She did not even want to imagine what it was going to be like for them. She could remember James completely breaking down, in front of Lily and everyone else. And Sirius...his story had been heartbreaking.  
  
Not that his current story was. Traitor. Did that oath mean nothing to him? Luna seemed to often remember Sirius at school, and could never find where he had gone wrong. The only other route was that he had never gone wrong, which was impossible.  
  
Right?  
* * *  
Ginny ran upstairs, toward the Gryffindor common room. She wanted to grab her book before going to dinner. She was quite out of breath by the time she panted the password to the fat lady, who opened up to submit her.  
  
At first Ginny just started jogging up to the dorm. Then she stopped short, looking one of the more comfortable armchairs near the fire.  
  
"Hermione?" She said. The forlorn looking sixth year turned her head to the voice calling her. She attempted a weak smile.  
  
"Hey, Ginny." She replied, her voice hardly above a whisper. She was starting to notice the world now. Starting to handle the unbelievable feeling of loss and pain. And she was feeling much stronger for it, because she now had something to fight for.  
  
"Are you okay?" Ginny said, forgetting her book (along with her dinner) and sitting down next to her friend. Hermione nodded.  
  
"I did some planning while I was at home," She said through constant sniffles, as if she had just stopped crying, as indeed she had. However, she pulled out some loose parchment and started explaining it to the Fire Defender very professionally. Ginny looked not at the plans, but at Hermione in wonder. How could she work at a time like this?  
  
"Hermione?" Ginny said after the third plan. She looked up suddenly at Ginny, as if coming out of a trance.  
  
"Hm?" She replied.  
  
"Umm..." Ginny searched for words. She wasn't quite sure how to introduce the situation. "We...that is Neville, Draco, Cho and I, have decided that well..." She was nearly stuttering. Hermione listened with a blank face, her head slightly cocked to the right. "We thought that's it's a little unfair, you know? I mean, you didn't know what the Dark Lord took from us, but now we all know about you, and...we're all gonna...you know, tell each other what was taken. Did that make any sense?"   
  
"Yes, actually," Hermione replied, half smiling. She was glad that she would find out about the others, as it had been a question she had wanted answered for quite some time. "When?"  
  
"Tonight, if you want." Ginny replied, trying to sound cheerful. However, the very thought of putting it into words...she gulped, and her smile faltered. Hermione pretended not to notice.  
  
"Yes, tonight is good." She replied. She opened her mouth to say more, but at that very moment the portrait hole opened, and two boys came tumbling inside. Unlike Ginny, they immediately noticed Hermione sitting there.  
  
"Hermione!" Ron said in surprise. Then she smiled, really smiled, and ran up to her boyfriend. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him fiercely before even saying a word.  
  
"Hello!" He said, smiling down at her. He was glad to see that she wasn't moping about. He hated seeing Hermione upset.  
  
"Hello, hello both of you!" She said, pulling Harry and Ron into a group hug. (To which both boys rolled their eyes.) "What's happened? Anything I should know about?"  
  
Nothing at all of importance had happened while Hermione was away, but both started speaking at once, as if they had prepared all the little gossips for when she came back. (Which they had) Ginny stood.  
  
"Ahem." She said, and the trio turned to look at her in perfect unison. She tried not to sigh. Harry, Ron and Hermione were a perfect circle and nothing, not death or fear or Defending, could penetrate that. Ginny had always longed to be part of it, but knew, deep inside, that she never would be.  
  
"I'm going to go..." She let her sentence hang, looking pointedly at Hermione, who nodded, giving her an odd, half smile and a wink. Ginny left the common room with a smile. Well, at least she now had something with Hermione that not even the boys understood.  
  
But she could still hear the three of them talking loudly with each other, interrupting each other, and, just before the portrait hole closed behind her, Ginny heard Hermione laugh.  
  
  
She found Neville and Cho in the Great Hall. She quickly explained that Hermione was back, and they were going to have The Talk tonight. They both promised to be in the library at the table where they usually met, at 8:00 sharp. However, Draco was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, she wandered the castle for a bit, and found herself in the library. She found their table...and Draco Malfoy sitting at it. He looked up at her.  
  
"Hermione's back, I know." He said as Ginny opened her mouth to speak. "I didn't know what time you would want to be meeting here. Seven? Eight?" Ginny put her hands on her hips.  
  
"You act like you know me sooo well." She said, in an almost sarcastic voice. Draco stood, walked over to her, and bent forward so that she could feel his breath on the side of her face.  
  
"That's because I do." He whispered. Ginny felt chills running up and down her back. Draco had a way of doing things...unexpected. You would think, by now, Ginny would know to expect that from him.  
  
He kissed her cheek, and she found herself kissing him back. That is until...  
  
"Ginny?!" Someone gasped. She and Draco spun around to see Lavender Brown staring at them in absolute shock. Ginny felt herself blush. Her first thought was embarrassment, but then she realized how stupid they had been. The library wasn't exactly private, and no doubt this would, eventually, get around to Ron. Lavender stood there, stunned.  
  
"Lavender," Ginny said, removing herself from Draco's arms and running over to the older girl, who merely gaped. A Weasley and a Malfoy? She thought in shock.  
  
"Ginny...are you with Malfoy?" She asked, still beyond shocked.  
  
"Shhhh"! Ginny hissed. "Lavender, you cannot tell ANYONE about this, understand?" Lavender shook herself out of shock to consider the situation. Ginny had always been rather rebellious to her brothers, and Malfoy was certainly not bad looking...  
  
"Dear, if you want to keep this a secret, I suggest you make out somewhere OTHER than the library." Lavender replied. She turned to leave, but Ginny grabbed her arm.  
  
"Don't tell Ron." She begged. Lavender sighed.  
  
"He's going to find out eventually, Ginny."  
  
"I know." Ginny replied, feeling rather uncomfortable and scared to death when she thought about her brother finding out about her secret relationship with Draco. "I just...not yet, okay?" She looked pleadingly up at Lavender, who sighed.  
  
"Okay Ginny. Whatever you say." Lavender turned and left, meeting Parvati at the foot of the steps.  
  
"What's up?" Parvati asked.  
  
"I caught Terry Boot and Lisa Turpin making out in the restricted section..."   
  
  
  
"Hermione!" Cho said, running up to Hermione and giving her a hug. "Oh, are you okay?'  
  
"I'm fine." Hermione said blushing, a bit embarrassed by all the attention. They all chatted for a while, before there was a pause, and everyone knew it was Time.  
  
"Okay," Said Ginny, letting out a whoosh of air. "We know why we're here. Who wants to volunteer?" Silence. They all looked around at the others, hoping that they wouldn't have to be first. Until Neville cleared his throat.  
  
"I'll go first." He said, surprising the other four. They hadn't expected Neville to volunteer. However, he cleared his throat again (one of his many nervous habits) and launched into his story.  
  
"Um, I've been wondering for quite a while how I was going to say this, so here goes. You all know that I live with my Grandma. That's fine, I love my Granny and all. But...my parents..." Neville swallowed hard.   
  
"They...they are what was taken from me. But not like everyone else. They were kidnapped, because my dad was an auror. This was after You-Know-Who's downfall, so everyone thought they were safe. But some Death Eaters kidnapped them, like I said, and...um...tortured them for information." He looked down at his hands, trying very hard not to cry and not wanting to look up at his companions. If he had, he would've seen the varying looks of shock and sympathy on everyone's face.   
  
"I visit them sometimes." He said, his voice tightened and sounding far off. "They don't know who I am, or my Granny..." He couldn't go on, nor did the others expect him too. Cho patted him awkwardly on the back, and he suddenly sat straight up, looking determined.   
  
"Okay." He said. "Who's next?"  
  
"I am." Ginny said meekly. She was shocked by Neville's story, told in his own words. She would've never guessed in a million years...she had never even thought about Neville living with his grandmother as opposed to his parents. Granny...that's not what her grandmother had been called. Memaw was the name Bill had appointed her all those years ago. She tossed her hair in determination and began her story.  
  
"My parents are big on anti-Dark stuff, especially Voldemort. That's because they were raised that way. Especially my dad, his parents, my grandparents, were always preaching against the Dark side.  
  
"My grandfather died before I was born. He was an auror, and was killed in the heat of an attack. But my grandmother lived on, trying to raise her children to the light.  
  
"Dad was the second oldest in the family, having an older brother named Peter. Dad idolized Uncle Pete as a child. That is, until he began his fascination with Muggle things. My uncle despised Muggles, but, as you all know, they fascinate my dad. That's when their relationship deteriorated.  
  
"I remember my grandmother well. I thought she was wonderful. I was, at the time, her only granddaughter, because Peter never married and Arthur, my dad, had only had boys right then. I loved her so much." Ginny looked off into the distance, as if trying not to cry, yet crying inside. Then she swallowed and continued.  
  
"My...uncle," She said, closing her eyes so that the tears would leak out. "He...he betrayed us. He turned to Voldemort, became a Death Eater. Then he...he..." Ginny really was crying now, and Draco automatically took her hand and stroked it, encouraging her to go on. He summoned a tissue, and handed it to her. She blew her nose, and looked up at her companions, who were watching with compassion and sympathy.  
  
"Sorry," She said, smiling weakly. "I'm getting all worked up. Memaw, my grandmother that is, she was staying at our house when...when they attacked. The Death Eaters, that is. We, my brothers and I, we were in Mom's room. She magiked the door so that they couldn't get in. But Memaw..." She let the sentence hang, and everyone knew what had happened. She let her head droop, and Draco put an arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her. She sniffled a bit more, then looked up and forced a weak smile.  
  
"Well, it feels good to let that out. Who's next?"  
  
"I'll go." Cho said softly, sticking out her chin. The others turned to her, and she spoke slowly and carefully, as if trying to control her emotions.  
  
"I had a sister once. A twin sister, identical. Her name was Chi." Cho giggled a bit, but it didn't sound heartfelt. "Cho and Chi Chang. That was us. Anyway, Chi and I were...very close. I mean, really close. Anyway, I have to explain a little bit about my parents.  
  
"My mother's father had been a servant of Grindlewald, and in turn for Voldemort. However, while my uncle and two aunts followed his teaching, my mother rebelled. She turned against him and married my dad, who works at the Ministry in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.  
  
"My grandfather had always been searching for a way to punish his youngest daughter for disobeying him. He told her, the very last time she ever saw him, that one day he would take the one thing she loved best.  
  
"Chi and I were playing in the backyard that day. It was June, and we were picking flowers..." Cho faltered for the first time. It seemed that she could perfectly picture that sunny summer day. "We were about seven, I think. Anyway, we were having fun. And then...I don't know, I suddenly got this...feeling that something was wrong, you know? I told Chi, and she laughed and told me I was being silly. But it kept bugging me. I begged her to come inside with me, but she refused. Why would she come in? It was a beautiful summer's day.  
  
"So I started going back to the house. Then I heard it; footsteps. I hid in some flower bushes, and saw a tall man in a black robe come up behind my sister, holding a wand. 'Chi!' I shouted, but I was too afraid to move. She turned and looked behind her, and her eyes widened. And then...he killed her." Cho suddenly stopped talking, and grabbed the edge of her chair until her knuckles were white. "She was only seven years old...And she was killed by her own grandfather." She began to shake, and Hermione put a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Are you going to be okay?" She asked softly. Cho came out of the spell she had seemed to go into and let out a ragged breath of air.  
  
"Yeah," She said, nodding her head. "I'll be fine." She looked up and over at Draco, who sighed.  
  
"I guess that leaves me." He said, stating the obvious. The others all had very sad and heart wrenching stories, but none quite like Draco's. He closed his eyes and hoped against hope that they wouldn't hate him as he began to speak.  
  
"I also had a sister. A younger sister, by the name of Serpentina. She was two years younger than myself. I thought she was the coolest thing. I showed her how to hold a wand and taught her all the passwords I knew around the mansion. She was MY little sister, and I...I loved her, I think." Draco's eyebrows raised suddenly, as if just realizing this for the first time. The others, too, were quite shocked to hear this.  
  
"Anyway, my father is a Death Eater. You all know that. Well, he wanted Serpentina and I to worship Voldemort as well. He started training us as soon as we could walk. I could do magic long before I came to Hogwarts. But that has nothing at all to do with it. The point is, Serpentina...she just couldn't. She could handle basic spells very well, but not anything Dark. She could do Light magic easily, but it was like she was born without the ability to, in any way, control the Dark forces.  
  
"Voldemort," He spoke the name with hatred, much to the surprise of the others. "Voldemort wasn't too happy about this. He tried again and again to force my father into making his daughter perform Dark magic. However, he was quite pleased with me." Draco snorted. "I was very good with the Dark Arts, and between you and me, I still am. The Dark Lord started to control me in much the same way he controlled my father.  
  
"Soon I, too, was trying to force poor Serpentina into Dark magic. But she just couldn't do it. I started to become cruel to her, wanting so badly to be the one to bring her to our side. I thought she just wouldn't do it. She would look at me with tears in her bright blue eyes and ask me why I was so mean to her." Draco's eyes were moist, but nothing came from them. It seemed that the sheer memory of his sister reminded him of the Dark person he was supposed to become. The path he had rejected. He blinked, and continued his story.  
  
"Then, on Serpentina's eight birthday, Voldemort summoned all four of us, that is my parents sister and I, into the drawing room. My parents told Serpentina that that's where her presents were, but I knew otherwise. She cowered before the Dark Lord, and he spoke harshly to her. He told her to perform a very basic Black spell. She whimpered, saying that she couldn't. He forced her to try, and she failed. He smiled cruelly, and preformed the Cruciatus Curse. My parents stood and watched, never taking their eyes off of her and not moving. I was shocked. There she was, this harmless, innocent child, screaming and shaking and begging and crying and her parents were just watching without doing anything. And so was her older brother.  
  
"I wanted to stop him. I wanted to jump in the middle and scream that no one could hurt my little sister like that. But I didn't. I wouldn't oppose him." Draco's head drooped, and his wavy blonde hair hid his face. "She died." He croaked. "She died right there, under the influence of that curse. And I did nothing." He looked up, expecting to see appalled hatred on the faces of the only people he had ever trusted. He was surprised to see shock and compassion. He felt a hand on his, and turned, in surprise, to see Ginny, whom he had been sure would hate him after this.  
  
"Oh, Draco," She said. Then she looked at all the others. "Well, now we all know everything. No more secrets. Okay?"  
  
"Oh you guys!" Hermione said, bursting out into to tears and running around the circle, giving a hug to each in turn. They all hugged her back. Even Draco didn't protest.  
* * *  
The next afternoon, Hermione was walking outside along the bank of the lake, digesting the information of last night. It was hard to swallow. The others were doing much the same thing at the very same moment, but in their own fashion. Ginny was writing in her diary. Draco was staring into the fire of the Slytherin common room. Cho was polishing her Nimbus 2000. Neville was looking out the window of the Gryffindor common room at the forest below. No one else was crazy enough to come outside. As it was Hermione's teeth were chattering, because it WAS mid-November.  
  
She sat down next to the lake and, taking off her shoes and socks, dipped her feet into the water. It would feel freezing to practically anyone else who would do something so crazy, but to Hermione it felt pleasant. This was, of course, because she could control water and, as she wanted it to be warm for her, it was.   
  
She was sitting and staring out onto the surface of the water, when she felt someone sit down next to her. She turned, and started in surprise to see Professor Starlight.  
  
"Luna!" She said in surprise.  
  
"Hello, Hermione." She replied, smiling. "I just came down here to think. Of course, I can't make the water comfortable, as you can." Hermione laughed.  
  
"Yes, I quite enjoy the talent." Hermione replied. They sat in silence for a little while. Until suddenly Hermione yelped and pulled her feet out of the water.  
  
"What?" Luna asked in alarm, looking around.  
  
"The water!" Hermione cried. "It's suddenly freezing!"  
  
"But that's impossible!" Luna replied. "Only someone else with more power over the water than you could..." But the words died on her lips, when she saw a figure moving in the trees. Her eyes widened.  
  
"Hermione, run!" She hissed. The two women stood, but Hermione did not run. She squinted in the general direction of the figure, until she spotted it. She was then about to run, when the figure spoke.  
  
"Hermione?" It croaked. Her eyes widened and suddenly she was smiling.  
  
"Sirius!" She cried. Then the figure, a tall man with dark, tangled hair and tattered robes emerged from the trees, smiling. Hermione ran up and gave him a hug. Luna stared in complete shock. Sirius?  
  
"What are you doing here?" Hermione demanded, coming to her senses. "This is NOT safe. Look, Harry's fine, I promise. Leave! They're going to catch you!" Sirius laughed loud and long, and all Luna could do was gawk.  
  
"Let them come!" He exclaimed, so loud that Hermione was afraid the Minister could hear it all the way from London. "Hermione," He said, slightly softer. "I caught him."   
  
"What do you..." But then realization dawned on her, and she sucked in a breath of air, and her eye light up for joy. "You mean...?"  
  
"Yep," He said proudly. Hermione squealed with joy, and Sirius chuckled. He started to dance a jig, then grabbed Hermione and they danced along the grass, laughing with joy as Luna stared in horrific confusion at the convicted murderer she had once loved and still did, and the teenager whom she had tried to teach to reject the Darkness.  
  
"Sirius?" Someone said in disbelief. Luna turned to see a crowd of students and teachers alike, who could do nothing more than stare at the top of the sixth year class and Black the Infamous. The question had come from none other than Harry Potter himself.  
  
"Harry!" Sirius said, breaking from Hermione who fell to the ground laughing. "I caught him, Harry!" Harry's face split into a smile, and he ran up to Black, and hugged him fiercely and Ron Weasley ran to Hermione, helped her up, and then went to Black himself. The inhabitants of the castle stared in disbelief, except for Dumbledore, who simply nodded, a knowing smile on his face at the man and the three wildly happy teenagers, and his utterly confused professor, who longed to be hugging the man as well. 


	10. Thanks Ron, buh-bye

A/N Sorry this took me so long to upload guys. It really is a good ch, not much, but just enough to hold you over. Enjoy!!  
  
Dedication: This ch is soooo dedicated to Britz who beta read it for me! *Cheers* Yay! I'm feelin' the love. *smooch* Thank you so much, girlie!  
  
  
  
  
For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Ten  
  
"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Grossio!" Minerva McGonagall shot curses at Black at   
lightning speed as soon as she got over her shock. Black, as well as   
Potter, Weasley, and Granger, didn't even notice, and none of her three   
spells hit their mark. She was about to shoot some more when she felt a hand   
on her wand arm. She looked up to see the Headmaster.  
  
"Don't, Minerva," he said, not turning his gaze from the display. She was   
shocked to see that there was a smile on his face, and he seemed relieved at   
the sight.  
  
"Whatever do you...Albus?" Minerva said, becoming even more confused as   
Dumbledore swept over to the four dancing on the bank. The three students   
immediately stepped aside, allowing him passage to the convicted murderer.   
Luna continued to stare in shock and a strange pang for that time long ago   
when she had danced on the bank of the lake with a much younger Sirius   
Black, as a very wet Lily Evans threatened to pull a very dry and amused   
James Potter into the Lake with her.  
  
"Sirius!" Dumbledore said, smiling at Harry's godfather and the most   
mischievous student Hogwarts had ever seen, pulling Luna out of her daze. "I   
assume you're bringing good tidings, to be dancing on my front lawn with   
three students when you're supposed to be on the run from the law?" he asked   
in the same tone as one would say 'Lovely weather today, don't you agree?'  
  
"Yes indeed, Professor," Sirius replied, bowing as he used to when he would   
receive a detention. "I have captured the rat."  
  
"That is good news indeed," Dumbledore replied, not sounding at all   
surprised. It had not taken him long to discover the situation. "Where is   
he?"  
  
"In a cage I fashioned, a little bit into the forest," Sirius replied, gesturing to the trees.  
  
"Indeed." Dumbledore replied. "Mr. Weasley, you know the edge of the forest   
rather well. It shouldn't be to hard for you to find it." In a flash of   
black robes and flying red hair, Ron ran toward the forest. "And, Miss   
Granger, would you be so kind as to owl the Minister? Tell him to bring...a   
jury so to speak. I'm sure you'll find a way to put it into writing."  
  
Hermione nodded and ran through the growing crowd and into the castle as   
fast as she could. 'Sirius is going to be free' She realized. His name will   
be cleared! He can talk to Harry in public, for a change! She didn't slow   
her pace until she reached the owlery. Quickly she went to the small, waist   
high pedestal in the corner of the room. On it was, as always, a pad of   
parchment with the Hogwarts crest in the right-hand corner, an inkbottle and   
a peacock feather quill. Almost shaking, Hermione dipped the quill into the   
ink, wondering how to best phrase the situation. She didn't want to come out   
and bluntly tell him that they had custody of Sirius Black, because then he   
would show up with a jury of dementors. Frowning with concentration, she   
began to write.  
  
  
Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic:  
  
We here at Hogwarts have in our custody someone for whom you have long been   
searching. It is of urgent business, and requires your presence here at the   
castle immediately.  
  
Please escort a host of witnesses as well, to serve as a jury if the need   
arises, as well it might. You need not bring anything more.  
  
We are anxiously awaiting your arrival. Come today, November 16, if   
possible.  
  
Sincerely,  
Professor Luna Starlight  
  
  
Hermione slipped the letter into an envelope, praying that Luna would   
forgive her. It had taken her a long time to decide whom to sign, as she   
couldn't very well sign her own name. She finally chose Luna in hopes that   
the Minister wouldn't recognize her handwriting, and because she thought   
that Luna would probably forgive her, if Hermione didn't try to hide what   
she had done. Luna hated liars.  
  
She tied the letter to the swiftest owl in the owlery, usually reserved for   
the Professors. Then she turned and jogged from the owlery downstairs to   
find Ron, Harry, Sirius and Dumbledore. She ran into Ron in the Charms   
corridor and they both fell to the ground.  
  
"There you are!" Ron said, laughing as they recovered themselves from the   
fall. "I've been looking for you. C'mon, let's go back upstairs to the   
common room." He extended a hand and helped Hermione up. They walked slowly   
up the stairs, still hand in hand.  
  
"Where are Harry and Sirius?" she asked. Ron made a face.  
  
"They went off to talk to Dumbledore. It was like, thanks Ron, buh-bye."   
Hermione laughed at Ron's thoughts, but they were probably true. It wouldn't   
be the first time he was turned away from the inside workings of Harry's   
hero life. But he said nothing else on the subject as the ascended to the portrait hole.  
  
Ron fell into one of the more comfortable armchairs, and, without even   
thinking, Hermione sat on his lap. She leaned her head against his shoulder,   
and fought to stay awake. The excitement of the last two days had exhausted   
her.  
  
She was not at all surprised to see Ginny still writing in her diary and   
Neville still staring out the window, oblivious to the dramas on the front   
lawn because they were lost in their own world.  
* * *  
Hermione was amazed at how quick the Minister could be when he wanted to.   
She and Ron had only been sitting for twenty minutes when Harry came into   
the room, looking rather annoyed.  
  
"I wanted him to be fast, but not THAT fast!" Harry muttered, not even   
noticing that Ron and Hermione were sitting in the armchair across from the   
one into which he had plopped.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked. Harry started, and looked up at   
them, noticing them for the first time. Then he made a face.  
  
"Fudge! He's here already!"  
  
"What?!" Hermione exclaimed in surprise, leaping forward, much to Ron's   
surprise, who half fell off of his chair. "That's impossible! I JUST sent   
the professor's owl right before you left!"  
  
"Why do the teachers get such fast owls?" Ron asked. Harry and Hermione   
turned and gave him a Look. Ron just shrugged. Hermione turned back to   
Harry.  
  
"But...but..." She spluttered, looking confused. Ron stood up and put an arm   
around her waist to calm her. She took the hint and took in a deep breath.  
  
"What are they going to do?" Ron asked, turning serious.  
  
"They're going to question Wormtail under Veritaserum, and store the whole   
thing into the memory of Dumbledore's wand."  
  
"The Wand Remembrance Charm," Hermione said, nodding. Ron and Harry rolled   
their eyes over her head.  
  
"Anyway, they get all these guys Fudge brought, along with Fudge and   
Dumbledore himself, to sign something that verifies that everything in the   
memory of the wand actually happened, and that it's not set up or anything.   
Then they release it to the press, both wizarding and Muggle, and...Sirius   
is cleared."  
  
"All righty then," Ron said, "Who wants to play chess?"  
  
And so they passed away the hours losing against Ron at chess   
until they heard news from Dumbledore.  
* * *  
Harry was frowning as he studied the chessboard. There really was no way he   
could win at this point. He only had his king, one rook, one pawn, and a   
bishop left, and the bishop was trapped. Ron still had almost all his   
pieces. Looking up at Ron, who's face showed nothing, he moved the rook.  
  
Not until after Harry's rook had moved did Ron grin, directing his knight   
and declaring check mate. Harry's pieces shouted up at him, and Harry   
sighed.  
  
"You're turn, 'Mione," he said, sounding very bored, which he was.  
  
Hermione was just beginning to move the pieces back when Professor   
McGonagall came in through the portrait hole. The three stood immediately,   
and everyone else in the room quieted.  
  
"As most of you know, we have apprehended Sirius Black," she said. Ginny's   
eyes widened. She hadn't even heard the gossip, and when she hissed it to   
her friend, Gabbie rolled her eyes, whispering that she had been trying to   
tell Ginny that for the last hour. McGonagall continued.  
  
"Most of you do not know, however, that we have also apprehended Peter   
Pettigrew," McGonagall's words sent a shock wave through the room. But Peter Pettigrew was dead, Black had killed him, right?  
  
"It has been proven, through interrogation of Mr. Pettigrew under the   
influence of Veritaserum, that Black is innocent. The murders of which you   
are so familiar with as Black being the culprit were committed by   
Pettigrew."  
  
Murmurs of doubt and disagreement sprang up from all corners of the common   
Room, except for where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were standing.  
  
"If you don't believe me," McGonagall said, pointedly raising her voice over   
the noise of the room, "They will show everything tonight, just before   
dinner, at 4:30 in the Great Hall. Good afternoon." And with that, she   
turned and left. Harry and Ron sat down and began talking immediately.   
Hermione would've joined the conversation, but at that moment, Ginny came   
over to her. Hermione pulled her a bit aside from the boys.  
  
"I can't believe it...Black's innocent?" Ginny said. When Hermione didn't   
respond, she continued, "I really can't believe it. Maybe I'll go to the   
showing thingy, or whatever it's supposed to be. Will you come with me?"  
  
"I don't think so, Ginny. I've got to study," Hermione replied, trying hard   
not to laugh.  
  
"What!?" Ginny replied, shocked. "Study? At a time like this? Hermione,   
you're crazy!"  
  
"Ginny, I hate to bust you're bubble, but I already knew Sirius was   
innocent," Hermione said simply. There was no reason to keep it from her any   
longer. Ginny's eyes widened with surprise.  
  
"But...how...?" She spluttered. Hermione tried not to laugh, but a smile was   
still very obviously playing at the corner of her lips.  
  
"It's a long story, Ginny. Too long for right now. But I've known since   
third year. Sirius is Harry's godfather. Oh yes, Harry knows too, and Ron.   
We helped him escape, don't you remember? Yes, of course that was us. Sirius is   
always helping Harry with the whole 'saving the world' stuff. He always writes   
with advice and...all kinds of things. He would hide in a little cave in the   
face of the mountain in Hogsmeade, and we'd go visit and bring him food."  
  
"You are so kidding me," Ginny said, trying to digest all of this.  
  
"Of course I'm not. Did I look surprised? Didn't you hear that I was dancing   
with Sirius out on the bank of the lake? Great dancer, Sirius," She said,   
adding the last part thoughtfully.  
  
"I heard, but...but," Ginny looked absolutely shocked at her friend's   
behavior. "I just didn't believe it. I thought 'Hermione, and a convict?   
Dancing? There's no way!'" Hermione laughed, realizing that Ginny was serious.  
  
"Go to the showing, Ginny. I guarantee it will all make sense." She smiled   
down at the younger girl. "I'm going to go talk with the boys, as if they're   
not already talking about Quidditch. See you later, Ginny!"  
  
"Bye," Ginny responded automatically, watching her sit down in a chair that   
was a bit closer than usual to Ron. Ginny felt her eyes travel,   
automatically, to Harry. She sometimes wondered if that old crush still   
lingered. Quickly she stood in effort to find something else to occupy her   
eyes.  
* * *  
That night Luna skipped dinner. She sat at her desk, staring off into space.   
This had been an unbelievable day.  
  
Sirius was innocent. All the teachers had gone to see what Dumbledore showed   
everyone was hidden in the memory of his wand. Peter was the guilty one, the   
murderer, the traitor. Somehow, it didn't surprise her. Or maybe she was   
just willing to believe it anyone but Sirius.  
  
Sirius. Luna closed her eyes. He was free, and here at Hogwarts. She was   
momentarily transported back in time to when she was a seventh year   
Ravenclaw, working hard to balance Defending with studies. That's when she   
had met Sirius. She had known who he was, of course, everyone knew who   
Sirius Black was. But she really...met him. And he really met her. He may   
have been the only person in Luna's life to really know her.  
  
Suddenly she was jolted from her random thoughts and memories by a loud   
knock on the door.  
  
"It's open!" she shouted. It swung forward, and Sirius Black stepped inside.   
Luna quickly stood up. What was he doing in here?  
  
"Hi," he said.  
  
"Hey," she said, giggling a bit. Oh dear, she had almost forgotten what it   
felt like to be in his presence. He had a knack for making girls giggle like   
that.  
  
"So...long time no see, eh?" he said, chuckling slightly.  
  
"Yeah," Luna replied. There was an awkward silence.  
  
"So....you're a teacher now," he said, stating the obvious as he looked   
around the office.  
  
"Yeah...and you're an ex con."  
  
That's when it happened. They began to laugh. Not chuckle or giggle nervously,   
but really laugh, like they had as teenagers.  
  
"It's a life," he said. He looked around the office once more. "A prof, eh?   
Yeah, you'd be the type, typical brainy Ravenclaw." He rolled his eyes.  
  
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Luna said in mock sadness.  
  
"It is," Sirius replied. Luna stuck out her tongue, knowing she was being   
immature and not really caring. When she was with Sirius she could   
just...relax.  
  
"So, you married?" he asked her.  
  
"What?!" she asked, shocked at his question.  
  
"You heard me," he said, looking her square in the eye. "Are you married?"  
  
"Don't be ridiculous, Black! Me, married, honestly. I haven't even been on a   
date in forever. There are no men in my life," she rolled her eyes. Sirius   
grinned.  
  
"Good, then you're single."  
  
"I suppose..."  
  
"Saturday night, Three Broomsticks," he said, winking. Luna stared at him.  
  
"Sirius!" she said. "You just got cleared of murder and you're already   
asking me out on a date!" He nodded, and she just shook her head smiling.  
  
"All right. Good bye, Sirius," she said, turning to sit back down at her   
desk. She realized he hadn't left, and turned around to find him pouting at   
her. "What?"  
  
"Don't I get a kiss goodbye?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.  
  
"Some things never change," she said. She walked over to him and, standing   
on tiptoes, went to peck him on the cheek. Sirius being Sirius, he waited   
until the very last moment and turned his head so that her lips hit his.  
  
"Goodnight, Luna," he said, smiling and leaving. As soon as he was gone she   
giggled, feeling seventeen and giddy all over again.  
  
There was nothing quite like kissing Sirius Black.  
* * *  
It was evening, and Ginny was sitting alone in the library, reading her   
novel. Or so she thought.  
  
"Guess who," Someone asked, as he covered her eyes, which she rolled.  
  
"Draco," she said. He let her head go, and she turned to face him.  
  
"No, it's Prince Charming," he said smugly. Ginny laughed, then suddenly   
caught herself.  
  
"Draco!" she hissed. "We're going to get caught! This isn't exactly a   
private library, you know." She turned to her book and pretended to   
read...but there was the slight detail that the book was upside down.   
Laughing softly, Draco took it from her and laid it on the table.  
  
"Okay, I'll leave," he said. "On one condition."  
  
"Which would be...?" Ginny replied.  
  
"A kiss," he said simply. Ginny giggled.  
  
"Of course," she said. He leaned over and kissed her softly, and they didn't   
let go of each other until they heard a loud gasp. They quickly broke apart,   
but saw nothing. Draco cursed softly.  
  
"Do you think someone saw us?" Ginny asked nervously.  
  
"I don't know," Draco said. He sighed. "Well, I promised I'd leave.   
Farewell, Lady Ginny!" He took her hand and kissed it. Ginny blushed and   
looked away. She would've never expected a Malfoy to be so romantic.  
  
Ginny jogged up to the Gryffindor common room. She was going to sneak   
upstairs and into the shower. Or so she thought.  
  
"GINNY!" The scream stopped Ginny's blood. She turned slowly to see Ron,   
looking livid. Hermione was behind him, trying to calm him, but neither Ron  
nor Ginny could understand her words of attempted peace. Ginny waited for Ron to speak, and   
when he did, the words trembled with rage and frustration.  
  
"Why were you kissing Malfoy in the Library?" 


	11. The strange effects of the Ron/Ginny epi...

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts!  
Part Eleven  
  
"Ron! Ron, please! Ron, you have to calm down! Ron!" Hermione was pleading  
desperately with Ron to leave Ginny alone, but she got the feeling that either  
he wasn't listening, or he couldn't even hear her through the deafening drums of  
his own rage.  
  
"Traitor!" Ron screamed, using all of his will power not to hit Ginny, who  
cowered. "Traitor! A Malfoy! Ginny, how could you! A MALFOY!"   
  
Ron continued screaming like this for quite some time, not caring, or even  
realizing, that the entire common room was watching.   
  
"Ron, please," Ginny whispered, trying not to cry, "Ron, you don't understand.  
You don't even know Draco-"  
  
"DON'T KNOW HIM?!" Ron screamed. "Don't know him? Ginny, he's a MALFOY! He's evil, he's vile, he's..." Ron seemed to be at a loss, as if unable to describe  
someone so hideous. Hermione was have a very hard time keeping her temper in  
check. She knew Draco, trusted him, and was not happy to here Ron talking about  
him like this.  
  
"Ron, please!" Hermione said.   
  
Harry had joined her and was holding the back of Ron's shirt.  
  
"Ron, you have to calm down," Harry said softly.   
  
Ron made an animal-like growl in response and turned back to Ginny, who was  
taking ragged breaths but staring at her brother stubbornly.  
  
"You're betraying your family, you little wench, and you'll regret it," Ron said  
through clenched teeth.   
  
He shook himself out of Harry's grasp, and Ginny watched him go.   
  
Ginny flinched as Ron slammed the door with an unbelievable force.   
  
It wasn't until then that she let her tears run over.  
  
"Ginny-" Hermione began, but Ginny turned tail and fled upstairs to her  
dormitory.   
  
Hermione sighed, but didn't follow her. She got the feeling both the Weasleys  
would want to be left alone.   
  
She turned to Harry, who was watching the girl's staircase in a very strange  
manner. He looked as though he wanted to hit something. His face was tight, his  
fists were clenched to the point where he had white knuckles, and his eyes were  
fiery.  
  
"Harry?" Hermione said cautiously.   
  
He said nothing. He turned quickly and stormed out of the common room.  
  
Hermione sat down and put her head in her hands in frustration and confusion.  
Now what? Should her loyalty lie with her two fellow Defenders, or with her best  
friend and her boyfriend?  
  
'Maybe I should write Aunt Charlotte,' she thought, but then she remembered.   
  
Neville, who had been watching the scene, was now the only person watching  
Hermione.  
  
He was the only one to see her silent tears fall.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ron threw back his curtains and fell onto his bed with a whoosh. He put a hand  
over his face and rubbed it a bit, as if he were trying to wake up. Then he  
sighed and stared up and the canopy of his bed.  
  
He was confused. He had always hated Malfoy. His whole family hated the Malfoy  
clan. How could Ginny stab them in the back like this?  
  
Ron knew what it was like to love someone. Hell, there was no other word for his  
feelings for Hermione. And, as over-protective as he was, he could see why Ginny  
wanted that.  
  
But he didn't think Malfoy was capable of love.  
  
Malfoy...Ron couldn't think of a word bad enough for him. He was playing with  
his poor innocent baby sister's mind. She had no idea how the mind of boys  
worked! And when he broke her heart, then she would be sorry. She would come  
running to Ron for support. And Ron wouldn't let her down...because he would  
make Malfoy sorry too.  
  
Sighing with frustration, Ron closed his eyes.  
  
Suddenly Ron was surrounded by a vision so intense that it blocked out all of  
his other senses. He was watching Ginny, who was in the common room alone,   
crying. And from her mixed babble and weeping, he could only understand two  
words, 'Why Draco?' She wouldn't stop crying and just kept saying the same two  
words over and over and over...  
  
Ron opened his eyes and sighed with relief to see the canopy of his bed. If  
Draco ever did that to his sister, he would die. He would die a long, slow, and  
very painful death.  
  
But until then he wasn't even going to acknowledge Ginny's presence. He didn't  
have a little sister.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ginny punched her pillow a few times, and it made her feel better. Then she took  
a small piece of parchment and charmed to be incense. She wrapped her hand  
around the edge, and when she removed it there was a small fire burning, and the  
smoke it produced had a very therapeutic smell. Ginny had quickly discovered  
that fire came easier to her when she was angry.  
  
She sank down into the window seat, and stared down at the perfect green lawn of  
Hogwarts.  
  
Why couldn't Ron understand? Why *wouldn't* he, rather. She loved Draco. So what  
if he was a Malfoy and a Slytherin? So? Ginny didn't understand why that  
mattered.  
  
And she was not betraying her family, no matter what Ron said. She may be  
betraying him, but not Mum or Dad or Percy. What had Draco ever done to anyone  
in her family but Ron? It was only his little personal grudge. Why should she  
let it affect her life?  
  
But, if all that was true, why did she feel so guilty?  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Harry stormed blindly through the intricate maze of the corridors of Hogwarts,   
paying no attention to where he was going. Eventually he ran into a dead hall,   
and at the end he found deserted classroom. He went inside and promptly  
collapsed onto the floor, his head drooping.  
  
Malfoy had Ginny. Draco Malfoy, Harry's archenemy, who had tormented him for so  
many years, had kissed the girl Harry liked. The image of them kissing in  
Harry's mind was haunting him and it refused to relent.  
  
WHY? Malfoy was evil! His father was a Death Eater, and from what Harry  
understood, he was too! He lived off other's torment and had everything from  
wealth to power to influence...to Ginny.  
  
Damn him! Ginny deserved so much better than the arrogant son of a Death Eater.  
He would never treat her right.  
  
He would never treat her that way Harry would.  
  
'What did I do wrong, that he did right?' Harry thought.   
  
Harry saved the world and sacrificed for others and all those other things that  
people were supposed to do. Malfoy did none. Why should he have the Ginny's  
love?  
  
Did Harry have to sacrifice Ginny too?  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
So, the week passed. Ron wasn't even acknowledging Ginny's presence, and  
Harry was avoiding her at all costs. Hermione was not at all surprised at Ron's  
behavior, but shocked at Harry's. However, she managed to remain neutral, much  
to her relief. Ginny hadn't asked her to take sides, and Ron was pretending  
Ginny wasn't there.  
  
This, of course, did nothing to help Ron's case, because in that week Draco and  
Ginny grew incredibly close. Now that the entire school knew of their  
relationship, they didn't have to hide it. Ginny had taken to eating to the  
Slytherin table.  
  
Luna had feared that this would cause some uneasiness between the Defenders, but  
it did just the opposite. It seemed that Neville, Cho, and Hermione supported  
Draco and Ginny's relationship, and it brought the five of them closer than  
ever.  
  
And so it was a very happy Luna that was adding the final touches to her hair  
Saturday evening. Classes were great, the Defenders were coming along rapidly,   
and she had a date with Sirius Black. What could be better?  
  
Sirius was sitting at a secluded table at the Three Broomsticks, sipping a glass  
of mead. Of course, the table hadn't been secluded before, but as soon as Sirius  
had sat down, it seemed that everyone in the near vicinity had had some reason  
or another to move to another table or leave entirely. However, they couldn't  
kick him out...every one of them knew that he had been proven innocent, they  
just didn't believe it.  
  
Sirius sighed; it was good to be free. He could sit back, relax, and not have a  
care in the world. Nothing could affect him.  
  
That is, until Luna walked in the door.  
  
She was beautiful. She had on a short black skirt that showed off her legs, and  
a silky blue blouse that held just right for her thin frame. She was wearing  
complicated sandals, even though it was November, and she was smiling nervously.  
Sirius jumped up.  
  
"L...L...Luna?" He said, looking her over. She laughed.  
  
"Have you always been this articulate, or is my memory failing me?" she asked.  
  
"I think it's a new thing for me," Sirius replied.   
  
Whoa, it had been a long time since he had been out in public with a girl. He  
motioned for Madame Rosmerta to bring mead, which she brought quickly,   
and then left as soon as possible. Luna laughed.  
  
"Still not rather fond of you down here, eh?" Luna asked. Sirius grinned.  
  
"I'm sorry, m'dear, but I'm rather unpopular now." he replied. Luna sighed.  
  
"You know, I don't date guys who aren't popular," She said flirtatiously. 'Oh my  
God,' she thought, 'I'm being flirtatious? How old am I again?'  
  
"Well, Harry likes me, and he's famous, so is that popular enough?" he asked.  
  
"Maybe, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" she replied, winking.   
  
They laughed and sipped their drinks, forgetting that they were a day older than  
seventeen.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione sighed heavily. She only had two more nights to study for her test in  
Transfiguration on Thursday, and she was extremely worried about it. Usually, though Hermione went on and on about studying, she felt confident. However,   
Hermione was feeling rather uneasy about this one. Luna had been training the  
Defenders hard, and she was finding less and less time for homework and  
studying.  
  
Therefore, as the boys sat playing chess, she had her nosed buried in 'Advanced  
Transfiguration'. They were arguing about something concerning Quidditch fouls.  
Hermione was completely oblivious to all this until she got the uneasy feeling  
that eyes were watching her.  
  
Looking up from her book and around the room, she saw Ginny Weasley giving her a  
look that just shouted for help. Without thinking, Hermione set the book down and  
strode over to where Ginny was sitting.  
  
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked of the younger girl.  
  
"What isn't?" Ginny replied sarcastically.   
  
She had been picking up a lot of sarcasm since she had started dating Draco. She  
sighed.  
  
"Hermione...I'm just not sure about this. I mean, I love Draco, but Ron's family  
and..."  
  
"Ginny, hold it right there," Hermione commanded, "If you are considering  
leaving Draco just because Ron wants to throw a little hissy fit, you need to  
stop right now."  
  
"I wasn't going to leave Draco!" Ginny replied, looking absolutely appalled that  
Hermione had even mentioned such a thing. "It just that, well...do you think  
there's any way I could make amends with Ron?" She was looking at Hermione  
hopefully, and Hermione only sighed, looking over at him.  
  
"Well Ginny, I don't know," she replied honestly, "Ron's pretty mad, you know  
how he gets, but he'll get over it, don't worry."  
  
"And another thing," Ginny said quickly, as if afraid that Hermione was going to  
leave. "Why is Harry avoiding me?" Hermione frowned.  
  
"I don't know, Gin," she answered, "I've been trying to figure that out myself."  
  
"Oh, well, as long as I wasn't imagining it," Ginny mumbled.   
  
"Well, if that's all I have to study for Transfiguration," Hermione said, and  
Ginny nodded.   
  
Hermione stood and started walking back to her book. However, as she passed the  
boy's table and noticed that they were done playing chess, she couldn't help but  
stop.  
  
"Hermione!" Ron said, smiling up at her in that way that made her heart melt.  
"Finally pull your nose out of that book?"  
  
"Maybe," Hermione grinned, "But I think I'm going back to it now."  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Ron said, wrapping his hand around her wrist and pulling her  
down onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist so she couldn't stand  
up.  
  
"Ron!" Hermione objected, trying to squirm out of his grasp. He just laughed.  
Hermione eventually gave up, and began laughing herself.  
  
"If I fail the Transfiguration test, it's entirely your fault, you know that,   
right?" she said, smiling at him. He rolled his eyes.  
  
"Quit worrying and relax!" Ron said.   
  
Hermione leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She  
wondered when the last time was that she really just let herself relax.   
  
She opened her eyes and looked over at Harry, whom she had almost forgotten was  
even there. He was looking at her in a very odd manner, with a small, sad  
looking half smile on his face. Hermione wondered if he was jealous. Ron didn't  
seem to notice Harry's peculiar expression. He was playing with Hermione's hair,   
tugging gently on the ends. Hermione, at that moment, was completely happy. She  
looked around the room, and her eyes fell on Ginny, was staring at the three of  
them.  
  
Suddenly, Hermione felt an overwhelming rush of guilt.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Hermione need not of worried about her Transfiguration test, as it turned out to  
be much easier than she had thought it would be. However, she was refusing to  
let herself rely on that.  
  
She sat between Ron and Harry at lunch, as usual. The three of them were  
excitedly discussing the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend. Hermione and Ron were both  
planning on doing some Christmas shopping, thought neither one said  
anything.   
  
"I heard Honeydukes is coming out with a new candy!" Ron said excitedly.  
  
"Only you could get so excited over a new candy," Hermione replied, rolling her  
eyes.  
  
"A new candy? Where?" Neville said, leaning over. Ron and Harry started  
laughing, and Hermione made a face.  
  
"Well I think-"  
  
"Attention!" Dumbledore said, standing up. He had just entered the Hall from a  
meeting with the heads of houses and the Head boy and girl. He looked very  
grave.  
  
"The Hogsmeade weekend has been cancelled."  
  
Dumbledore was met with several shouts of protest to this statement. Several  
boos came up from the tables. Dumbledore held up a hand, and they were quieted.  
  
"Many of you here knew Angelina Johnson. She was working at Zonko's after  
graduation. She was been murdered."  
  
Dumbledore was met with silent shock  
  
  
  
A/N: Guess what guys? It's Star*dust! Isn't that just your worst fear? Anyway, Harmony asked me at school today to put up this notice cuz she can't. She won't be updating for three weeks guys!   
  
Doesn't that suck? But, don't kill her. Her f***ed up computer is the one to blame. She has no internet access anymore, except on the weekends so that limits the time when she can update.  
  
However, this weekend she has some church thing; don't ask me, I'm just the messenger. And then she has spring break, when she's going to Disney World with the band. (Thank you God, I'm not going) So, she won't be able to get on the internet for three weeks.   
  
(It's killing her as much as it's killing you)   
  
But anyway, I basically have free reign over her stuff right now. Don't you feel privileged?   
  
She also wanted me to tell you that she is cutting out a chapter. Well, she's not cutting it out; she's just combining it with another chapter. But, yeah, I'm sure you just HAD to know that, right? Well, I don't know maybe you did…  
  
Anyway, I think that takes care of all the stuff I was supposed to tell you.  
  
By the way, don't you guys like this story. The plot-line is really cool. Though I haven't actually read it, this girl's got a mouth on her like the size of Indiana so I hear all about it. And, I know how it ends and stuff. She's starting to plan for the sequel too people, so don't go away just yet.  
  
OH! I want to be an annoying little brat and take full advantage of this opportunity and of you to say that you all should read The Last Laugh. Ask Harmony, she loves my story, don't you.   
  
She's actually claiming rights to the sequel and we're writing a joint fic which is the sequel to the sequel, but anyway, I guess you didn't need to know that. Just thought I'd throw that out there because I want to make Harmony mad by writing forever and ever right in the middle of her story.  
  
Hey, it could be worse, I could be writing right in the middle of the text.   
  
Anyway, I think I am finally done annoying Harmony and all the rest of you poor unsuspecting souls.  
  
See you later!   
  
~Star*dust (But, I'm speaking for Harmony… some of time…) 


	12. Sirius interrupts a secret meeting and H...

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part 12  
  
Hermione was not at all surprised to get a summons from Luna as she entered the common room. She, Neville, and Ginny turned and went right back out to the corridors.  
  
They filed into Luna's office in silence, Draco and Cho right behind them. The sat down and looked up at Luna expectantly in perfect unison. All five had a look of mixed determination, hate, bewilderment and guilt. They had thought, for a while, that they were going to save the world...and they hadn't been there.  
  
"I don't know what there is to say," Luna said, carefully choosing her words. They were in a state of wild emotion, and Luna knew better than to say anything to provoke it.  
  
"I know what to say," Draco said. "Voldemort's a-"  
  
"DRACO!" Cho, Hermione, and Ginny yelled in unison. Neville hid his laugh in a cough.  
  
"Listen, guys," Luna said, sighing. "Voldemort's attack is close at hand, and-" Her sentence was cut off when they heard the door to Luna's office open. All six of them turned to look at the doorway.  
  
"Uh...hi?" Sirius said, waving at them a bit.   
  
"Sirius?" Hermione said. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Just thought I'd see how Luna's running the place," Sirius replied, sitting down behind the Defenders.  
  
"What...how do you know about this?" Hermione replied in shock. The other four (who, remember, were still digesting that Sirius was innocent) waited impatiently for the reply.  
  
"Of course," He said, raising an eyebrow at Luna. "You didn't tell them of the Days of Yore, Luna?"  
  
"I didn't think it would be wise, but with you around I don't suppose I have a choice." She sighed.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Ginny demanded. She very much detested being left out of the loop.   
  
"Sirius is referring to when we were in school...as Defenders." Luna explained.  
  
"YOU were a Defender?" Hermione asked in shock, spinning around to stare at Sirius, who was smirking.  
  
"I can't believe you didn't tell them about this, Luna," He said. Luna rolled her eyes.  
  
"All right, well, if you guys want to hear about it..." She said, looking warily at the Defenders. They could tell she didn't particularly want to explain, but she had peeked their curiosity and it was too late to turn back now.  
  
"Definitely," Neville replied, voicing the thought of the other four.  
  
"All right then. Sirius, you will have to help me, I can't remember everything."  
  
"That's what happens when you get old," He sighed dramatically.  
  
"Excuse me?" Luna lifted an eyebrow. "You're just as old as I am,"  
  
"Yes, but I don't act like it," He replied, smirking again.  
  
"Could've fooled me!" Luna snapped. The Defenders looked at each other, silently agreeing that Sirius was nuts and that he brought out a side in Luna they never knew was there.  
  
"The dark side of the moon," Draco muttered. Ginny, Cho, and Hermione giggled.  
  
"What? Oh, sorry guys," Luna blushed. "Anyway, my days as a Defender...  
  
"I was in sixth year when we were told. We were trained by the Potions professor-"  
  
"Poor guy," Sirius interrupted. "Old Cobblestone wasn't very fond of James and me."  
  
"And for good reason!" Luna snapped. "Anyway, his name was Professor Cobblestone, and he had been a wind Defender during the height of Grindlewald's power."  
  
"We called him a windbag for good reason," Sirius confirmed, nodding his head. Luna just rolled her eyes.  
  
"Anyway, there were five Defenders. I was the lightening. Sirius here was Water-"  
  
"So THAT'S why the water went cold," Hermione muttered, nodding.   
  
"Uh-huh," Luna nodded. "Our Fire Defender was Lily Evans; Harry Potter's mom, and James Potter; Harry's dad, was Wind. We also had a Divinator..." The reference seemed to bring pain to Luna's eyes.  
  
"Dirty rotten..." Sirius continued for quite some time, and Hermione became impressed with his fluency of swear words.  
  
"Well?" Draco demanded, getting impatient. "Who was it?"  
  
"It was..." Luna cast a wary glance at Ginny. "Peter Weasley."  
  
"My uncle..." Ginny muttered, her eyes wide. Draco took her hand and squeezed it.   
  
"Yes, well, it's true." Luna looked very embarrassed. "Peter was a year above James, Lily, Sirius and me. The five of us were to fight Voldemort just as you are. I only hope that none of you chose the path Peter did...either one."  
  
"That's it! I figured it out, Luna! People named Peter are evil!" Sirius exclaimed.  
  
"I have a neighbor named Peter, and he's not evil...to my knowledge anyway," Hermione said thoughtfully.   
  
"I knew a guy who worked at the Apothecary in Diagon Alley named Peter," Cho added.   
  
"I had a great-great-great-grandfather Peter," Neville said.  
  
"They're all evil! THE PETERS ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD EVERYBODY RUN FOR IT!!!!!!!!!" Sirius yelled, jumping out of his chair.  
  
Luna, along with the Defenders, were sent into gales of hysterical laughter.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Everyone in Hogwarts attended Angelina Johnson's funeral service. Harry was very quiet...he had known Angelina very well, because they had been on the Quidditch team together.  
  
Ron's brother Fred was there too. Neither Harry, Ron, nor Hermione had seen him so solemn. He had been engaged to Angelina for just over a month. Ron and Ginny even temporarily put away there feud in a desperate, futile effort to cheer him up. He smiled weakly at their antics, but his eyes remained dead. His smile scared Hermione more than anything else.   
  
Dumbledore made a short speech at the funeral, and there were a lot of people crying...some just because it was a funeral, and others out of sheer fear of Voldemort. Those who were there for Angelina herself-her family, Fred, and her friends-were in too much shock over losing someone who loved life so much to cry.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned from the funeral silently, each lost in their own thoughts. They all went to bed much earlier than usual. Hermione slept dreamlessly, and Harry dreamed memories of playing Quidditch with Angelina.  
  
Ron's dream was much different.  
  
*~*  
  
A red haired boy around sixteen or seventeen was sitting in a small stone room. From what Ron could tell, it looked like Snape's office. Except the teacher sitting on the other side of the desk wasn't Snape. It was an older-looking man, with graying hair that was once a handsome brown, and tired brown eyes.  
  
"What did you call me here for, Professor Cobblestone?" The boy asked. He looked like a Weasley, but not someone Ron recognized.  
  
"Peter, my boy," The man-Professor Cobblestone-sighed. Ron felt his eyes widen...if such a thing can happen in a dream. Uncle Pete? The one who betrayed the family? The one who got Memaw killed? "Dumbledore has instructed me to give you something. You must use it wisely, and be very careful with it."  
  
"What is it, sir?" The boy, who Ron was assuming was Uncle Pete, asked curiously.  
  
"This," The professor replied, reaching into a drawer of his desk and pulling out a small, round object. Ron watched carefully as he placed it on Pete's outstretched palm. As Ron concentrated, he felt himself being pulled toward the marble...closer and closer until it took up all his range of vision.  
  
It was an orb shaped object, and Ron was reminded of a gobstone. It was glowing, and it's color was constantly changing and swirling. In the center, there was a single drop of a black liquid. It looked like ink. Ron studied the black droplet curiously. After a brief moment, he saw a figure WITHIN the droplet. It was a pretty teenage girl with red hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a blue dress and twirling and giggling. She continued twirling and twirling and twirling and...  
  
*~*  
  
Ron sat straight up. It was still the middle of the night. He was soaked in sweat. He glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning. Frowning, he laid back down. What a strange dream.  
  
What could that have meant?  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The Hogsmeade trip had finally been rescheduled. Many of those who knew Angelina decided to stay out of respect for her. However, Ron, Harry, and Hermione decided that they needed to get out...and that they needed to get their Christmas shopping done.  
  
They passed Filch's careful inspection, his eyes narrowed for students trying to sneak outside. Though why anyone would want to, Hermione couldn't begin to imagine. It was freezing, and snowing on top of it. She wished she had a thicker cloak as soon as she set foot outside.  
  
Draco didn't seem to mind.  
  
Hermione was glad to be going to Hogsmeade with Harry and Ron. Recently, she had hardly made time for them around Defender meetings and schoolwork. They chatted happily as they skipped down into the village. Hermione's cheeks were already turning red from the cold...as were Ron's she teased him, saying his face matched his hair. This turned out to be a bad idea, because then Ron threw a snowball at her.  
  
Hermione threw a snowball back at Ron, who ducked. Instead, it hit Harry square on the shoulder. Soon the three were involved in a wild snowball fight, which ended with them in a giggling heap on the snow.  
  
When they finally resumed the path to Hogsmeade they decided to check out the newly erected Weasley's Wizard Wheezes first. The twins were finally in business (after getting several of their products cleared by the Ministry of Magic) and Hermione couldn't wait to see the shop. They had worked hard for it.  
  
They were having a blast checking out everything the twins' joke shop had to offer. The shop was doing well and (according to George, anyway) Mrs. Weasley was finally beginning to soften up to the idea of her boys owning a joke shop.  
  
They picked their way carefully around the people sprouting feathers and fins. The three of them had learned that the only thing all the products had in common was that they were unheard of, especially when it came to the sweets. Before picking anything up, or even touching it, they waited for some unsuspecting innocent to finger it. They were glad more than once.  
  
Ron and Harry left with five huge bags between them, and even Hermione had a bag of things she just couldn't pass up.  
  
"Let's go to Zonko's!" Ron exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.  
  
"All right!" Harry exclaimed.  
  
"You boys!" Hermione sighed. "We just got out of a joke shop! Not to mention your brothers won't be too happy if they find out you're buying from the competition."  
  
"So?" The replied in unison. Hermione sighed again; she really didn't want to go to Zonko's.  
  
"Tell you what, 'Mione," Ron said, immediately sensing that she didn't want to come. "We're only going to be in there for a few minutes. So while we're doing that, why don't you go get us a table at Three Broomsticks, and Harry and I will pick up the butterbeers on the way in?"  
  
Hermione flashed him a grateful smile. "Thanks, Ron," She said.  
  
"Anytime," Ron replied, kissing her on the nose. Harry made a face, and Hermione laughed. As Hermione walked toward the pub, she heard them laughing. She smiled; happy because her boys were.  
  
As Hermione opened the door, she heard a bell tinkle, and felt the rush of warm air on her face, heavy with smell of betterbeer and Christmas scents of gingerbread and cider. She got a few scowls because of the snowflakes that accompanied her arrival, but all was well when the door was safely shut behind her. She started searching for an empty table...not an easy feat considering most of the Hogwarts had sought refuge from the weather with a nice warm butterbeer.  
  
"Hermione!" Someone called. She looked toward the voice and saw Draco gesturing madly to her. She pushed through the crowd toward where he was sitting.  
  
"Who's sitting there?" Hermione asked, gesturing to the empty seat next to him. She noticed a second butterbeer, only half finished, sitting on the table next to Draco's empty tankard.  
  
"Ginny," He replied. " But you can sit there till she gets back."  
  
I think I will," She smiled. "Where is Ginny?"  
  
"With some fifth year friends," Draco replied, making a face. "Sometimes I remember that she's a fifteen-year-old girl." He put on a high falsetto. ""Oh Draco, you'll never guess what Caitlin said about Vicky when she saw her with Andy!"  
  
Hermione laughed, and Draco smiled.  
  
"I am exaggerating a bit." He said, chuckling. "But enough about me, let's talk about you."  
  
"What about me?" Hermione asked curiously.  
  
"Where are Potty and the Weasel, for instance?" Draco replied.  
  
"Didn't I tell you not to call them that?"  
  
"Fine then, Miss Granger. Can you inform me of where I might locate Mr. Harry Potter and Mr. Ronald Weasley?"  
  
"Why do you want to know?" Hermione replied. She was having fun answering his questions with questions.  
  
"It shouldn't matter Granger!" Draco cried exasperatedly.  
  
"And why not?" She asked.  
  
"Because...because you're their receptionist, that's why!" Draco declared. Hermione put on a face of mock hurt.  
  
"I am not,"  
  
"Are too,"  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Are too!"  
  
"AM NOT!"  
  
"ARE TOO!"  
  
"AM..." Suddenly, Hermione realized how childish they sounded and began laughing hysterically.  
  
"ARE TOO!...what?" He asked, confused at Hermione's spontaneous laughing fit.  
  
"It's just..." But Hermione was laughing so hard that she could hardly breath, let alone talk.  
  
"What?" Draco asked again, trying desperately not to laugh...and failing miserably. Within a few moments they were laughing so hard that they couldn't breath, and they didn't hear the little bell at the door tinkle.  
  
"Oh Draco, I really should go," Hermione sighed once she had gotten control of herself. Draco pretended to pout.  
  
"Must you?"  
  
"Well I don't want Ron or Harry to see me here and-"  
  
"It's a little late for that," Came a voice full of ice and hardly constrained rage from behind her. Hermione's heart stopped as she turned.  
  
"Ron-" She began desperately.  
  
"I don't want to hear about it, Hermione," He said, obviously using all his willpower not to yell. He turned to walk out. Right out of the pub and Hermione's life.  
  
"Ron, wait! Please! I can explain!" She called out.  
  
"No, Hermione!" He yelled viciously as he spun around, and Hermione saw, for an instant, his face contorted with the full extent of a wave of emotions she didn't even want to try understanding. In that instant, she felt her heart break. "No, I know exactly what going on. It's not bad enough that Malfoy takes my sister's heart and is just waiting for the right time for the blender, but he's decided to add my girlfriend to the recipe!" With every syllable Ron's voice got louder and more out of control. Hermione felt tears running down her cheeks. He thought she was cheating on him with Draco! Rage, confusion, helplessness, loss, guilt, and denial suddenly decided to drop by and keep her heartbreak company.  
  
"That's NOT TRUE!" She screamed, choking on her own tears and rage. "You won't even give him a chance-"  
  
"That's the same thing Ginny said," Ron interrupted icily.  
  
Hermione stared at him, her eyes wide and tears flowing freely down her face, rage and shock flowing through her veins, killing all sensations. She stood, numb, trying to talk and only emitting a few unintelligible syllables. Ron stared back, his jaw set, his fists clenched, his eyes blazing.  
  
"Ron..." She pleaded meekly.  
  
"No, Hermione," He whispered. Hermione felt her eyes widen, and, from deep with her, huge, heart wrenching sobs that hurt her chest. Burying her face in her hands, she fled. She never saw Draco glare at Ron, stand, and leave. She never saw Harry try desperately to convince Ron to think rationally. She never saw the shocked look on the faces of the other people in the pub. In fact, she saw nothing through her tears mingled with the snow.   
  
She ran through the streets in the snow that would've been freezing, had she the ability to feel it. Eventually she collapsed onto her knees in the middle of the street. Her tears froze, then shattered as they hit the iced road.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N Whoa, a lot happened there. What will happen to Hermione and Ron? What was up with that dream? Peter Weasley was a Defender? Lolz, lot's of torture here. Many answers coming.   
  
There are only THREE more chapters left in this story! Can you believe it! YAY! I'm so close! Don't worry, the sequel is already in the works...you're gonna love it! As of right now, it's going to be titled 'A Glimpse of the Hidden'.  
  
This chaptered is dedicated to one of the evil Peters I know personally...a few of you know who I mean (if you ever READ this, hint hint, Sierra! Star*dust! Diana!)  
  
I'm working hard on chapter 13, and I hope to have it up next weekend, but I'm not sure. Next week is the school musical, but I'll try. Chapter 13 is a HUGE chapter, so don't kill me.  
  
It's great to be back! (I was on vacation, you know...if you could call it that.) Hugs and kisses to all my reviewers.  
  
Until next chapter, tootles!!!!!!!! 


	13. Ron has a dream and The Gryffindor boys ...

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my Loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part 13  
  
"Where's Hermione?" Ginny asked Parvati as she followed the crowd into the   
Great Hall for dinner. Parvati frowned.  
  
"I don't know," she replied, "She must have come in early."  
  
"Parvati!" Someone in the crowd called. Ginny suspected it was Lavender.  
  
"Coming!" she called back. She turned to Ginny. "Look, Gin, I don't know   
where Hermione is, but I gotta go."  
  
"That's okay," Ginny sighed. She lifted her hand unenthusiastically as   
Parvati disappeared into the crowd, waving. She sighed again as she looked   
around the pushing and shoving mob. She wasn't particularly hungry.  
  
"Hey," Draco said from behind her, slipping his arms around her waist. "Did   
you find her?"  
  
"Hermione? No," she replied with a sigh. "Draco, I'm not really hungry,   
and..."  
  
"Go ahead," he smiled, and kissed her on the cheek. She flashed him a   
grateful smile, then turned and began climbing up to the Gryffindor common   
room. Draco turned into the Great Hall cursing Ronald Weasley.  
  
Ginny cringed as she climbed into the common room to hear Hermione's sobs.   
She entered quietly, and saw Hermione sitting in a chair in the shadows,   
wrapped in a quilt with a box of tissues on her lap.  
  
"Hermione?" Ginny asked cautiously. Hermione's head snapped up.  
  
"Who is it?" she croaked through her sobs.  
  
"It's me...Ginny," Ginny answered quietly, walking over to her friend. Her   
heart broke for Hermione. She looked worse than Ginny had ever seen her.   
Instead of being poised, collected, and sure of herself, she seemed broken   
apart and strewn on the floor, with no idea how to put herself back together   
again. "Are you okay?" she asked, feeling stupid, but unable to think of   
something better.  
  
"Do I look okay?" Hermione snapped. Well, at least she still had her temper.  
  
"What happened?" Ginny asked cautiously, sitting down across from Hermione.   
She only knew the little bit she could discern from Draco's cussing.  
  
"I was...and then Ron...he said..." Hermione burst into more sobs. Ginny   
patted her on the back, but rolled her eyes. She wasn't getting much more   
out of Hermione than she had gotten out of Draco.  
  
"It'll be okay," she said soothingly.  
  
"No it won't!" Hermione wailed.  
  
"Yes it will," Ginny responded automatically.   
  
She was getting more worried by the moment; Hermione was usually not so  
pessimistic. "Look, are you hungry?" she asked, trying to distract her.  
  
"No," Hermione replied. She did not want to be distracted.  
  
"Not even a little bit?" Ginny wheedled. "I can go into the Great Hall and   
grab some food."  
  
"I'm not hungry," Hermione insisted.  
  
"Even a little chocolate from the kitchens?" Ginny tempted. "Hmmm? Some ice   
cream, maybe?"  
  
"Well...okay," Hermione nodded, partially because she had heard that   
chocolate and ice cream helped ease the pain of a break up, and partially   
because she was familiar with Ginny's stubborn nature.  
  
Giving her a weak smile, Ginny turned and exited the common room. She was   
relieved to distance herself from a very depressed Hermione.  
  
On her way down to the kitchens, she heard the noisy clatter of the student   
body happily eating their dinner. She scowled. Ron was probably in there,   
stuffing his face with Christmas cookies and not giving Hermione a second   
thought.  
  
If only she had looked out the window, past the thick layer of snow to the   
frozen lake, she would've seen a red-haired, cloaked figure standing with   
his hands in his pockets and his head hung low.  
  
  
"Here," Harry said, offering Ron a napkin holding the chicken and bread he   
had swapped from the dinner table.  
  
"I'm not hungry," Ron said dully without lifting his head. Harry sighed and   
stared down at the chicken wing.  
  
"WHY?" Ron finally exploded, throwing his hands in the air. "Why was she   
fooling around with Malfoy behind my back?"  
  
"I highly doubt," Harry said in a cold voice. "That Hermione was fooling   
around with anybody." Harry had spent so much energy trying to make sure Ron   
didn't kill anybody that he hadn't had the time to try and sort out his own   
emotions yet. The only thing he was sure of was confusion. Why would   
Hermione betray their friendship this way after all these years?  
  
"Well then why the hell was she with Malfoy?" Ron demanded, whirling around   
and glaring at Harry, who lifted his arms and showed his palms.  
  
"I don't have the answers, Ron," Harry replied apologetically.  
  
"Well if you don't, who does?" Ron asked, more to himself than to Harry.   
Burying his hands in his pockets, he stared up at the sky with a look of   
sorrow on his face. The sky was overcast, and the gray light shining down on   
him made him look even paler than he already was. Feeling rather awkward,   
Harry turned and walked back to the castle, glancing worriedly over his   
shoulder a couple of times at his friend. Ron didn't move, and continued to   
fix the clouds with an unreadable glare.  
  
Ron wasn't even really seeing the clouds. His mind was filled with the   
vision of Hermione laughing with Malfoy. He kept seeing her dancing eyes   
looking at him, and his replying laughter. Ron remembered how anxious she   
had been to go to the Three Broomsticks instead of Zonko's...and now he knew   
why.  
  
Yet even as he stood, staring at the heartless clouds as the cruel wind   
whipped his hair, he felt his wild rage slipping away from him. He tried to   
grab it back, because he knew without it all his other emotions would take   
over. He closed his eyes.  
  
Hermione was the best thing in Ron's life. An uncontrollable sense of loss   
overtook him as he realized this. What if she never spoke to him again? Or   
even looked at him? Maybe she DID have a reason for meeting with Malfoy....  
  
NO! No, there was no reason. He couldn't forgive her! Never!  
  
Yet even as he thought this, he opened his eyes and saw Hermione's smiling   
face in the clouds. His eyes widened, and this...this imagined Hermione   
laughed. She mouthed the words 'I love you'. Ron felt his throat constrict.   
He turned his head and cast his gaze at the grass so he wouldn't have to see   
her. But then the air seemed to be filled with her laughter.  
  
'Laughing with Malfoy,' he thought bitterly. A particularly strong gust of   
wind lifted his hair and cloak as he began to stalk back to the castle.  
  
The stone corridors were almost as cold as the wind outside. Ron, however,   
was so lost in his own cold thoughts, the external chills did not affect   
him. It gave him a heartless look.  
  
He hesitated as he reached the portrait hole. What if Hermione was in the   
common room? What would he do?  
  
"Password?" The Fat Lady asked, peering at Ron curiously. She looked anxious   
for some gossip. Ron scowled.  
  
"Turtle shell," he snapped. The Fat Lady looked rather insulted.  
  
Ron's eyes carefully surveyed the scene, taking in everything in the common   
room. In the corner, almost hidden in the shadows, were Hermione and Ginny.   
Hermione was bent over in an armchair, a box of tissues on her lap. It   
seemed that Ginny had pulled a footstool next to Hermione, holding a plate   
and patting Hermione awkwardly, yet sympathetically, on the back.  
  
Seeing Hermione in this pathetic state pulled something in Ron's chest. For   
a moment, he considered running up to Hermione and holding her in his arms.   
He could almost feel her silky hair under his fingers, and her sobbing on   
his shoulder.  
  
Suddenly, and for no real reason, he saw her crying on Draco Malfoy's   
shoulder.  
  
He focused on Hermione, trying to convince himself that Malfoy wasn't   
anywhere near her. As if she could feel his gaze, Hermione's head snapped   
up. For a moment their eyes met. Ginny, realizing Hermione's sobs had   
suddenly stopped, turned and saw her brother. She immediately regretted her   
Christmas cookie thought.  
  
Ron saw that Hermione and Ginny were staring at him, and suddenly felt like   
it was two against one. He broke eye contact with Hermione and stalked   
upstairs.  
  
He got upstairs and fell into bed. A wave of exhaustion overtook him and he   
fell asleep, dreaming of dancing with Hermione on Halloween night.  
  
  
Hermione's eyes (along with Ginny's) followed Ron's back up the stairs until   
her was out of sight. There was a moment of silence before they heard the   
door slam. Hermione was brought into tears anew, and Ginny was beginning to   
panic.  
  
Luckily, she was saved by two owls, each carrying a red note card. The first   
summons landed in Ginny's lap and the other bounced off Hermione's hung head   
onto the floor.  
  
"Hermione," Ginny coaxed in a soft voice.  
  
"What?" She croaked, looking up at the red-haired girl who seemed to be her   
only friend.  
  
"Luna sent for us," Ginny replied. Hermione nodded, and allowed Ginny to   
help her stand. She didn't know if she could stand alone at that moment.  
  
They walked slowly to Luna's office. Ginny had her arm around Hermione's   
shoulders, which would quiver occasionally. When they reached the door,   
Hermione looked bravely at Ginny, who gave her shoulders a quick squeeze,   
before opening the door.  
  
Luna (along with more help from Sirius than she would've liked) was   
lecturing Cho, Neville, and Draco about something. She went silent as the   
creaking of the door interrupted her. She had her lecture to Hermione and   
Ginny about punctuality all planned out, but the words floated free of the   
chains of her mind when she saw Hermione's red eyes and tear stained face.  
  
"Hermione!" Draco exclaimed, leaping out of his seat and running to her.   
Cho, Neville, Sirius and Luna watched on in confusions. "Hermione, are you   
okay?" He asked in concern, his eyes searching hers. She nodded and   
attempted a wobbly smile, but she felt herself break down inside and started   
shaking her head. She burst into sobs again, and in a desperate attempt to   
hide it in shame, she covered her face in her hands. Draco glanced at Ginny,   
then pulled Hermione into an awkward hug. Hermione cried on his shoulder.  
  
"What happened, Hermione?" Cho asked, somewhat pale.  
  
"Ron broke up with her," Ginny said quietly, sitting in her seat. Cho gasped   
putting a hand over her mouth.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Hermione," she whispered, as Draco pulled away to allow Cho   
to hug her. Luna gave Sirius a 'look'. Neville watched on in confusion.  
  
"Hermione, you don't have to stay," Luna began, her heart breaking as she   
watched her pupil's pain. She could tell Hermione had really loved Ron.  
  
"No!" Hermione interrupted fiercely, her sobs stopping and her shoulders   
straightening. "No, I want to practice."  
  
"I you're sure..." Luna replied uneasily, looking at Hermione with   
apprehension.  
  
"Positive," she answered, taking her normal seat.  
  
"Okay then, you, Draco, and Ginny will work on elemental defense tactics.   
Take turns dueling. Cho and Neville, you will be working with Sirius and me   
on improving common magic with your elemental skills..."  
  
On the other side of the school Ron sat straight up in bed, an odd tingling   
in his fingertips.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The next day in Potions, Hermione sat with Neville on the other side of the   
room as opposed to with Ron and Harry as usual. Neville smiled at her   
sympathetically, and said nothing.  
  
The potion required all kinds of nasty looking ingredients that even   
Hermione wasn't terribly eager to handle. However, she refused to complain,   
and helped Neville raise his Potions grade. They were the first group done,   
and Snape sneered, but gave Neville the 'A' anyway. He smiled at her.  
  
The potion had to simmer when they were finished for much longer than they   
had class time to wait for. The full potency wasn't reached for about seven   
hours. As such, the potion continued to bubble even though they already had   
the grade...freaking out Neville.  
  
"Professor Snape?" A deep rang through the room. The class turned to see the   
head of Professor Dumbledore popped into the room.  
  
"Yes, Headmaster?" Snape asked, looking up from Parvati and Lavender's off   
color potion.  
  
"May I speak to you for a moment?"  
  
"Of course," he consented. He looked at his class with sharp eyes. "I will   
be right back." He said, sweeping out into the hall.  
  
The class immediately broke out into babble, and Neville immediately started   
thanking Hermione profusely. Even over all that babble, and from the other   
side of the room, Hermione could hear Ron cursing Draco. She and Neville   
immediately stopped talking, and turned to glare at Ron. The rest of the   
class silenced as well, but Ron didn't seem to care.  
  
"Really, Weasley?" Draco smirked. Hermione was sharply reminded of why she,   
Harry, and Ron had hated Draco for so many years. "Why don't you put   
something behind all those big words?" He asked smoothly. Ron's ears went   
red, and Draco smirked. "Didn't think-"  
  
Draco was cut off when Ron's finished potion was flung all over his face.   
Everyone but Draco, Neville, and Hermione burst into laughter as Draco wiped   
the liquid, which at that point had little more effect than water, off his   
face. The, he suddenly flung a handful of parrot eyeballs at Ron. Harry   
flung crocodile tongue, with Seamus and Dean coming to help with bullets of   
gorilla fingernails, and that's how it began.  
  
Soon Draco and the four Gryffindor boys were in an all out war, and the rest   
of the class was laughing like crazy. Neville leapt up to stop the fight,   
running in between and yelling at them. Ron flung an armidillo liver at   
Neville, who ducked. The liver flew across the room...and hit Snape in the   
face as he opened the door. All noise in the room immediately stopped.  
  
"Who threw that?" he asked, annunciating each syllable. The class looked   
around uneasily.  
  
"It was Ron Weasley, sir," Pansy replied softly. "All the Gryffindor boys   
were throwing things." Snape's eyes bugged out as he surveyed the damage of   
his classroom.  
  
"DETENTION!" he screamed. "All of you! And seventy points from Gryffindor!"  
  
"I believe," Dumbledore said, his mouth twitching as he watched from behind   
Snape. "That Mr. Malfoy was also involved in these activities." He looked at   
Snape expectantly, who narrowed his eyes at Malfoy.  
  
"Detention for you as well, and fifteen points from Slytherin. Mr. Malfoy,   
I'm very disappointed in you."  
  
"Yes, sir," Draco replied, looking at Snape coldly. Hermione sighed.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ron and Hermione spent the rest of the week avoiding each other at all   
costs. Harry tried to remain neutral, but found himself more often with Ron,   
because Ginny was always with Hermione.  
  
At the end of the week, Ron fell into bed, exhausted. He had had hardly any   
sleep all week because he couldn't fall asleep, thinking of Hermione. He   
prayed for sleep.  
  
He got his wish....and more than he bargained for.  
  
*~*  
  
Cho Chang's face swam in front of him. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was   
slightly opened. She looked terrified. Slowly, Chang began to fade and   
change into a new face. The face of Draco Malfoy.  
  
Malfoy's expression was different, yet strangely similar. Malfoy's mouth was   
set in a grim line of determination and his eyes were blazing with an   
internal fire. And yet...his eyes held the same animal-like fear as Chang's.  
  
Abruptly, and only for a second, he saw a pair of eyes. They were yellow,   
with slits like a snake. They held a heartless fury and an unmerciful   
bloodlust.  
  
Then faces. In rapid sequence, Ron saw the faces of Colin Creevy, Ernie   
MacMillan, Lisa Turpin, Dean, Filch, the Head Boy, Madame Pince and others.   
Their expressions held nothing.  
  
Many rows of black-cloaked people in masks appeared to him. They were all   
being directed by one tall man in a black cloak. He was pointing to various   
ranks of people and shouting in a language Ron didn't understand. It frightened   
him.  
  
The scene changed yet again and he saw Hogwarts in the eye of a terrible   
storm. The storm would've resembled a hurricane if it hadn't had clods of   
earth, daggers of ice, and licks of flame accompanying the wind and rain.   
The storm was ferocious, yet somehow Ron could see through it clearly, and   
there stood Hogwarts. The castle seemed untouched by it. In fact, it seemed   
protected by the howling force of nature surrounding it.  
  
Then he saw five people standing in a semi-circle. They were wearing bright   
colored robes and determined expressions. Ron looked closer and realized he   
recognized them, Cho Chang, Neville Longbottom, Hermione, Ginny, and Malfoy.  
  
Suddenly, Ron felt like he was spinning on a merry-go-round, and as he spun, he   
kept seeing his previous visions fly past him, faster and faster. Then, with   
a subtle change in perception, he felt like he was watching a   
merry-go-round, and it was comprised of all his previous visions. As they   
whipped by him at an impossibly fast rate in that ever spinning ring, he   
felt himself being pulled away. Soon they were a mere gleam in the pair of   
evil yellow eyes. Then he saw the evil eyes placed in an evil red skinned   
face, which was smiling cruelly.  
  
*~*  
  
Ron woke up, panting and covered in sweat.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The next day Ron came to breakfast with a rather odd look on his face. It   
looked like he had aged somehow...like he had seen the truth and it scared   
him.  
  
"What's up?" Harry asked in concern as Ron sat down next to him.  
  
"I had a dream," Ron replied, looking rather distant.  
  
"What about?"  
  
"I saw..." Ron struggled to find words to describe what he had seen in his   
visions. He was finding it rather difficult. "Cho Chang and Draco Malfoy.   
They were afraid of something, I think...the same thing. And a lot of   
faces," He was squinting, as if trying to remember something. He was finding   
that the more he said the less he remembered. Harry waited patiently, but   
there was someone else waiting not so patiently.  
  
Hermione was sitting just close enough to the boys to understand their   
conversation. She felt like kicking herself. How could she be so blind?  
  
Earlier in the year, she and Cho had started researching divinators, simply   
out of curiosity. They figured it would be easier to find the Divinator than   
the Lightening Defender. How could Hermione not see the signs? Ron rarely   
dreamt, but when he did, the dreams were rapid, and composed of short,   
colorful scenes, sometimes seeming unrelated or out of sequence. When he   
tried to describe them, he seemed to remember abstract emotions rather than   
the actual dream. Hermione couldn't believe she hadn't made the connection!  
  
Ron was the Divinator.  
  
"And I...there was...men in black!" His eyes got wide, as if remembering   
something forgotten. "They were being directed by another man in black   
robes. I think they were Death Eaters," He explained.  
  
Without a second thought, Hermione stood and ran out to find Luna, her mind   
screaming one thing. If Ron WAS the Divinator, and he saw ranks of Death   
Eaters, that could only mean one thing.  
  
An attack.  
  
"What's wrong with her?" Seamus asked, looking after Hermione.  
  
"I don't know," Harry frowned. "Ron, that is a creepy dream. Do you-" Harry   
was cut off by the mail, which wouldn't have interrupted him, but an owl   
dropped a not on the heads of all the Gryffindor sixth year boys. Harry   
heard Neville groan, and he read his own note.  
  
Mr. Potter,  
Your detention is to be served today after breakfast. Go to Professor   
Snape's classroom.  
~Minerva McGonagall  
  
Ron began to swear fluently, and Harry sighed. After breakfast, Harry, Ron,   
Neville, Dean, and Seamus trudged down to the Potions room with their heads   
hung. Seamus was giving Ron a run for his money in the cussing department.   
When they reached the classroom, they found Malfoy waiting for them.  
  
"Malfoy," Ron sneered.  
  
"Weasley," He replied, nodding coldly.  
  
"Good, you're all here," Snape interrupted, and Harry was almost glad to see   
him; he didn't want Ron and Malfoy to get into another fight so near to   
Snape.  
  
"Follow me," Snape instructed, and the six boys followed him, muttering   
under their breath. When they reached where he was standing, they saw six   
barrels, each covered and a sponge on their lids. There was a basin   
containing what appeared to be nothing more than water standing behind the   
row of barrels, and behind that six more barrels. They eyed Snape curiously   
as he removed the lids and handed each boy a sponge.  
  
Harry peered into the barrels and saw that they were filled with white,   
curved, and sharp looking claws about three inches long. Harry raised his   
eyebrows at Ron, who shrugged.  
  
"Sphinx talons," Snape said, answering the unspoken question. "The seventh   
years will be needing them for their next assignment. They must be scrubbed   
in a special solution until they turn blue. Scrub one at a time, then drop   
them in the barrel on the other side of the basin. When you are done, tell   
me. Any questions?" He asked. Harry stared at his barrel. It was about three   
feet tall and at least two feet wide. He couldn't imagine how many talons   
were in there. The others seemed to be thinking the same thing.  
  
"Get to work," Snape commanded, sitting down at his desk a few feet away to   
grade papers, looking up once in a while to keep an eye on them.  
  
Sighing, Harry picked up the first talon and dipped it into the water. After   
about two minutes of vigorous scrubbing pulled it out of the water and   
examined with satisfaction it's light azure color. He then dropped it into   
his complimentary barrel, and glanced into it. He sighed again; it was a   
long way down, and that on blue talon looked very lonely.  
  
An hour later, it seemed like he had made no progress. All six boys had   
wrinkled fingers and aching arm muscles. They were too tired to even glare   
at each other. Snape continued to grade papers, looking no different than he   
had an hour ago. Suddenly the door was flung open, and the boys all looked   
up in surprise as Sirius burst in.  
  
"Draco, Neville, c'mon!" he said waving his arm. The two boys immediately   
dropped their sponges, and began crossing the room.  
  
"Excuse me?" Snape said, standing and staring at Sirius with flashing eyes.   
"These students are serving a detention, and they are not leaving until I   
give them leave," Snape said coldly.  
  
"Listen, Snape, you don't understand!" Sirius exclaimed. He looked   
frustrated and panicked. "They need to come, NOW!"  
  
"And what's the emergency?" Snape asked coldly.  
  
"The end of the world, that's what!" Sirius snapped, crossing the room and   
grabbing Neville's arm in one hand and Draco's in the other, as if they were   
stubborn children. "If you want an explanation, talk to Dumbledore!" He   
called, dragging the boys out. However, Harry could hear all three of them   
start sprinting once they were out of the room. Snape sat down and began to   
swear...much to Dean and Seamus's amusement. However, Harry and Ron were   
staring at each other with wide eyes. What was that all about?  
  
"Well, what are you all standing there for?" Snape barked. "Go!" The boys   
scuttled out quickly before he changed his mind.  
  
Dean and Seamus claimed they needed to put in their last library use before   
leaving for the holidays, so Ron and Harry said goodbye. They half sprinted   
up to the common room with an urgency neither could explain. When they got   
inside, they found the common room buzzing with activity. Everyone seemed to   
be talking in hushed voices, fear in their eyes.  
  
"What in the...?" Ron muttered, looking around the common room. Colin   
Creevey saw them and ran up to them.  
  
"Harry!" He exclaimed. "Harry, have you heard? According to the rumors-"  
  
"Attention all students and staff!" A voice suddenly rang throughout the   
school. It was the deep, solemn voice of Dumbledore. "Report to the Great   
Hall immediately. I repeat, report to the Great Hall immediately. Do not   
panic."  
  
This announcement brought a new, louder wave of unintelligible babble. Harry   
looked at Ron with wide eyes. Then they followed the rest of the crowd out   
of the portrait hole toward the Great Hall. They kept their ears open, but   
nothing anyone around them said made any sense. They resigned themselves to   
find out when they reached the Great Hall. They were almost inside when Ron   
grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him out of the crowd.  
  
"What?" Harry asked, annoyed.  
  
"Listen," Ron hissed. Over the noise, they could faintly hear a woman's   
voice.  
  
"You all knew this day would come..." It said. Harry turned to Ron.  
  
"Where's it coming from?" he whispered.  
  
"The Entrance Hall, c'mon," Ron muttered. They detached from the crowd and   
ducked behind a suit of armor just inside the Entrance Hall. Standing in the   
center were five people in a semi-circle. The one on the left was wearing a   
baby blue, then someone in a deep green, then a beautiful turquoise, then a   
fiery red, and last an icy gray. The colorful figures were standing straight   
and tall. And in front of them, pacing back and forth and lecturing,   
was...Starlight?  
  
"Let's go over there," Harry said, pointing to a tall plant next to the door   
where they would be able to see the faces of the five mysterious people.   
They quickly snuck over, and to there relief, the six people standing in the   
center didn't seem to notice.  
  
"Oh my god..." Harry whispered, staring at the circle. The person in blue,   
now on their right, was Cho Chang, next to her stood Neville, then Hermione,   
and next to her, Ginny and Malfoy. The five were looking at Starlight with   
varying expressions of determination and fear.  
  
"Harry," Ron whispered. His fingers were tingling.  
  
"What?" Harry hissed.  
  
"I saw this in my dream."  
  
"WHAT?" He asked, trying not to yell. Ron motioned for him to keep his voice   
down, and pointed to Starlight, whom they could now hear clearly.  
  
"I cannot tell you what to do out there. This is your chance, because I have   
done all I can. This is left in your hands. I told you that you would only   
have one chance to back out, but I was lying. You can leave now, and not   
risk the danger. No one will hold it against you," she said, looking at all   
five of them. Malfoy cleared his throat.  
  
"I think I speak for all of us when I say no way in hell, Luna," he replied.  
  
"That's the same exact thing James said at this point," Starlight said,   
and though the boys couldn't see it, she was smiling. Harry and Ron looked   
at each other in shock. What was Malfoy talking about? Was Starlight talking   
about James Potter? What was going on?  
  
"All right, you know what to do. I must assist Dumbledore and Sirius." She   
said. "Good luck," And with that, she swept into the Great Hall, shutting   
its doors behind her.  
  
"All right," Hermione said, stepping forward and taking command. "We're   
going to use Strategy H and Emergency Signal 2d. If something goes wrong, we   
will probably fall back into Backup Plan 6. Everybody got that?" She asked.   
The other four nodded. She looked at them grimly. "Let's go kick some   
serious Death Eater ass," she said.  
  
The five of them marched out of the suddenly open door of Hogwarts. They   
went right by Harry and Ron without even noticing. After a moment of stunned   
confusion, Ron leapt up after them. That was his baby sister and his...well,   
his ex-girlfriend, but still! He didn't know what was out there, but he knew   
it wasn't safe.  
  
The doors slammed as he reached them. Instinctively, Ron put his hand on the   
large doorknob.  
  
  
He saw marching ranks of Death Eaters, led by the tall, black robed man. He   
heard them chanting evil words, and burning everything they passed. He saw   
them entering Hogsmeade.  
  
Then he saw Hermione, standing in a pool of water with her wand raised. Then   
Ginny, in the same stance, but standing in the midst of a fire. He also saw   
Chang, Malfoy, and Neville; Chang with her hair whipping around her, Malfoy   
on snow under icicles, and Neville standing still on quacking ground.  
  
Then he saw the Dark Mark over Hogwarts, laughing down at him...  
  
  
He pulled himself from the doorknob, gasping.  
  
"What's wrong, Ron?" Harry asked, his eyes wide with concern. "What's going   
on?" Ron turned to his friend with no expression in his eyes.  
  
"The Death Eaters are here." 


	14. The Battle

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part14  
  
Hermione felt the cold, bitter wind on her hands and her cheeks. She felt her skin being chapped where it was exposed to the wind. However, everything the cloak touched was unchanged. She felt extremely grateful to Luna at the moment.  
  
However, suddenly her heart froze, and it had nothing to do with the snow crunching under her feet. She could hear the Death Eaters chanting in Hogsmeade. In the distance, she could see the Dark Mark lighting up the dreary sky.  
  
She turned and nodded to her fellow Defenders, and they nodded back grimly, yet bravely. Neville and Ginny turned one way, while Draco and Hermione turned the other. Cho turned to the castle, and taking her wand out, flicked her wrist. Within seconds her Nimbus 2001 was hovering next to her. She climbed on and kicked off high over Hogwarts.  
  
Hermione and Draco were standing by the lake. They saw Ginny's red sparks from the other side of the castle, then Neville's green ones from in front of it. Cho sent down blue streaks of light from the heights above the castle. Draco and Hermione looked at each other, then sent up their silver and turquoise sparks to show that they were ready. As the four others turned toward the oncoming stampede of Death Eaters, Hermione turned to face the lake. Closing her eyes, she raised her hands to the heavens.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Luna was absolutely worried sick. She was shaking as she somehow managed to walk from the doors to the front of the Great Hall with the rest of the professors. The children...she had come in the last month to feel as if they were her sons and daughters. She knew, deep inside, that she had only been training them to go out and fight, but now that the day had come, she wanted to throw up. She could not stand the thought of what the Death Eaters could do to them.  
  
"Hey," Sirius muttered as he felt Luna stand next to him. Dumbledore was making a speech to the students, explaining what was happening. Sirius wasn't paying much attention.  
  
"Hi," Luna whispered distractedly, looking out the long window. She couldn't see the grounds, but she knew the patch of sky she could see was just above the lake. Hermione would be out there, and probably Draco as well.  
  
"Worried about them?" Sirius asked.  
  
"No, they're ready," She replied, not turning around. Sirius smirked.  
  
"You always were a terrible liar." He said in her ear. She whipped around and glared. She was not in the mood for Sirius's stupid comments.  
  
"What is Dumbledore talking about?" She demanded coldly. Sirius shrugged.  
  
"The attack. Fifth through seventh year students can help fight, if they wish."  
  
"So Harry will be out there?" Luna asked, an eyebrow raised. Sirius's eyes widened, and he swore under his breath.  
  
"I didn't think of that," He said, more to himself than to Luna. Over other little victories such as this, Luna would've made a point in rubbing it in, but this was not funny. Harry would be in serious danger...he had never had to fight a battle with others in danger around him. He had no training. Luna momentarily second guessed her judgment...it would've done Harry good to be prepared for this inevitable attack.  
  
Sighing, Luna's gaze returned to the window. It was a few moments before Luna realized what she was seeing. There was a wall of water, so high that she couldn't see its end. She could hear gusts of wind and saw the wall of icy water begin to swirl into a spout.  
  
"What in the..." She muttered, her eyes wide. "I never taught them how to handle such forces! Where did Hermione and Cho..." Her dangling sentence was cut off abruptly as she turned and glared at Sirius, who was trying desperately to maintain an innocent face and failing miserably. "Sirius!" She hissed.  
  
"What?" Sirius replied, trying to keep up his innocent act in vain.  
  
"I know you did this!" She continued, trying to keep herself from yelling as she pointed out the window.  
  
"Well, you know James was Wind, and we learned how to make a good water spout when we had the itch..."  
  
"This is NOT funny, you...you...marauder!"   
  
"Is that the best you can do?" He smirked. Luna sighed again, craning her neck to see the swirling mass of water.  
  
"I hope they know what they're doing."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The water spout was much taller than Luna ever would've guessed. It was, to the best of Hermione's ability to make it so, as tall as the castle itself. Hermione's hands were shaking with the effort of keeping so much power under her control, and she could only imagine what Cho was going through. She managed to turn her head and nod at Draco.  
  
Draco knew it was time. He sent up another shower of sparks. He then turned and thrust his hands toward the towing menace of water and wind. Icicles sharper than swords flew in, making the natural disaster even more dangerous than it already was. Hermione and Draco suddenly found it hard to keep their balance as the ground began to shake. Clods of earth, now frozen to the point of being rock solid, flew into the spout. Without warning, a wall of fire flew in front of them, and was swallowed by the raging storm.  
  
It was a terrible sight to see. Draco was awed by it. He was also getting worried about Hermione. Her hands were visibly quivering, and it seemed that she was sweating. She managed to look around at him, and he nodded. Slowly she lowered her hands and breathed a sigh of relief. They then turned toward the village and the ever-growing noise of the chanting Death Eaters.  
  
They could not see Cho, flying seven stories above them. Even if they had looked up they would not have seen her, because just above where the storm met the swirling and angry looking heavens was where she was. Her hands her lowered, and her flat palms, touched together, were facing the storm clouds, which were swirling at an impossible rate. She slowly moved her hands apart, and the spout broke to form a wall. She slowly flew inward toward the castle, letting her hands drift apart. As she reached the castle, she smiled in satisfaction, even though her entire body was shaking and she felt as if she were going to fall off her broom, and the unbearable noise of the storm was filling her mind.  
  
The wall now surrounded Hogwarts.  
  
Though Cho was finding the noise of the storm unbearable, the other four Defenders would've welcomed it. Even though there was a wall of unbelievable force swirling around them and the ground was quaking (courtesy Neville) it was silent. The silence was unbearable, and Hermione found herself wishing for something...ANYTHING to break it.  
  
She started humming her favorite song. Draco turned to stare at her. In the silence, her would-be-inaudible humming was carried to the other side of the castle to Ginny's ears. Draco smiled, and began to hum a different tune, which somehow seemed to fit with Hermione's. Neville and Ginny caught on quickly and joined in. Somehow the juvenile thought of a favorite song at such a dire time was welcome.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
There was quite a large crowd of fifth, sixth and seventh year volunteers accompanying the teachers to fight the Death Eaters. Harry and Ron were among the first out of the doors when Dumbledore finally quit lecturing. They were worried about their best friend and Ron's little sister. However, they were closely followed by the impressive stampede of the teachers and student volunteers.  
  
Their first impression was silence, followed only by a fraction of a second by awe. The inner walls of the storm that reached as high as they could see until colliding with the mean, black clouds stopped the whole lot in their tracts. Ron's entire hand was fire.   
  
Harry was the first to hear it...a soft humming vibrating through the eerie silence. It was soon joined the familiar tune with other songs of varying pitches. It filled the impromptu army with hope and they charged.  
  
It was not a moment too soon. Just as the fighters for Hogwarts burst through the oak doors, the Death Eaters broke through the wall of nature's greatest forces. The pleasant humming immediately ceased, but it was no longer needed to keep the silence nonexistent.  
  
Many fell just by trying to pass through the wall. The ranks of the Death Eaters had already been broken. More amazing, while the ground Harry's feet were planted on was as sturdy as ever, every inch of soil the Death Eaters touched was quaking.   
  
However, even with these barriers, it wasn't long before Death Eaters met with the Hogwarts fighters, and a full scale battle began. Harry sent curses left and right, dodging jets of light from both sides. He had never imagined such furious chaos.  
  
Ron was in much the same position. His mind was bent on one thing: Hermione. He knew she was out here somewhere, and the number of curses that were green were too high for him to be comfortable. He was fighting with a fury he didn't even know he possessed...fury at himself for not forgiving Hermione...for getting so upset over something so trivial.   
  
He knew that she was over by the lake, although he didn't know why he was so sure of this. In any case, it was just his luck that the current of the battle was pulling him the other direction. Even though his instincts told him she was on the other side of the castle, he kept his eyes peeled open for her. His stomach churned as he realized she might be dead. He wanted nothing more than to apologize and feel her in his arms away from all...THIS!  
  
However, his thoughts were yanked from Hermione when something in the depths of his mind screamed that Ginny was in trouble. He turned, and saw the short, red-clad figure he knew was Ginny fighting off two Death Eaters. She didn't see the third sneaking up behind her.  
  
"GINNY!" He screamed, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. Ducking and dodging curses, he tried desperately to reach her, knowing it was impossible as he watched the Death Eater raise his wand. Ginny spun around, and Ron was suddenly frozen. Ginny was going to die.  
  
Suddenly, just as the Death Eater was muttering the words, a gray robed figure placed a well-aimed kick at his back. The green curse flew over Ginny's head, missing only be inches. The impact of the curse knocked her down, but Ron knew she was alive because he could see her quivering even from this distance.  
  
He fought his way to her. By the time he was at her side, the gray figure was helping her to her feet.  
  
"Ginny?" Ron whispered, his face paler than the gray robes.  
  
"Ron!" Ginny exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. He held onto her tightly, afraid to lose her. His little sister had been so close to death...so close. His mind clouded over with guilt...he held onto her, regretting everything he had said to her that night after he had caught her and Malfoy in the library. He felt his eyes cloud with tears with the reality of those being the last words to his baby sister.  
  
He suddenly realized they were being watched. He looked up, and saw Draco Malfoy's icy eyes under the hood of the matching cloak. He finally released Ginny, who he realized had been crying. He looked uncertainly at Malfoy...who had just saved his sister's life.  
  
"Thank you," He whispered, his enmity with the blond boy unheeded in his gratitude for his sister's life. Draco only nodded...he was in shock by the bond of the Weasleys, never realizing a family could love each other like that. He could not believe Ronald Weasley had just thanked him. Suddenly, he remembered Serpentina, and it didn't seem so unbelievable.  
  
A sudden change startled them. The wall of water, ice, fire, and earth had disappeared. Draco and Ginny instinctively looked up, and Ron did as well. Far above, he saw a small figure on a broomstick dodging curses and throwing down her own jets of light.  
  
"Cho's in trouble." Draco said. He ran off to help. Ron was utterly confused. Now that he knew his sister was safe, his thoughts were returning to Hermione.  
  
"Ginny...are you going to be okay?" He asked.  
  
"Ron, LOOK OUT!" Ginny screamed. Ron ducked, and looked behind him. He saw a Death Eater. He blinked, and he was suddenly screaming because he was engulfed in flame. Ron stared at Ginny, his jaw dropped. Ginny grinned.  
  
"I can handle myself." She said, winking. "Hermione by the lake," She said shyly. Ron shot a grateful look at his little sister before taking off in the other direction. With new determination, Ginny turned to fight the Death Eaters.  
  
  
Hermione was exhausted. Her spells, and her control over water were becoming weaker and weaker. She had never dreamed the Battle would be like this. She had never had to fight so many people so had repetitively. Here, a mistake could cost her her life. Amazingly, she had managed to keep up with everything so far.   
  
She was faltering, though. A recent, minor error had cause a wound in her left arm, which was now bleeding freely. The loss of blood was not helping her exhaustion, and she was beginning to feel dizzy.  
  
However, she had hope. It was clear the Hogwarts was winning. She fought through slightly blurred vision, refusing to give up.   
  
A Death Eater started sending a flurry of curses at her. She threw some back, letting the water gush from her wand with the curse. However, neither her spells nor her elemental powers were very strong after battling for nearly three hours. But she could fight this one off, she had to, she HAD to...  
  
A well-aimed spell knocked her to her feet. The Death Eater stood over her. She closed her eyes. This was it, she was going to die.  
  
"HERMIONE!" Someone screamed. Hoping against hope, she opened her eyes, and saw the Death Eater turn, they get knocked down himself by a nasty looking red stream of light. She felt someone lean next to her.  
  
"Hermione?" A deep voice asked in concern. Hermione felt tears of relief and pain as she rolled over to see Ron bending down over her.  
  
"Ron," She whispered, smiling. He helped her sit up, and healed her arm.  
  
"Hermione...I'm so sorry," He whispered.  
  
"I know." She said, her eyes tearing with the only thing she hadn't felt all day: joy.   
  
However, she was quickly reminded of the state of her environment. She had forgotten the number one rule of battle: Don't let anything distract you. She turned to the fight, filled with new energy and prepared to face anything, because Ron was standing next to her.  
  
Just as she was preparing to reenter with a complicated, but powerful spell, her blood was stopped by a loud, ear piercing scream. Everyone stopped, and the world seemed to freeze...even Time itself. Then, as if the inhuman cry was a signal, the Death Eaters vanished. Hermione looked around her, and realized that Hogwarts had won.  
  
In unison, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry started screaming their celebration. They had defeated the Death Eaters. Ron picked Hermione up, twirled her around, and set her on her feet, kissing her fiercely. Hermione returned the kiss with everything she had.  
  
"HERMIONE!" They heard someone cry. Breaking apart, Hermione saw Ginny fighting through the crowd.  
  
"Ginny!" Hermione cried happily. She embraced her faithful friend, and realized that both she and Ginny were crying. "Neville!" She said through tears, seeing her green clad companion. She pulled him into a group hug with Ginny.  
  
"Harry," Ron smiled, relieved to see his best friend was okay. The hugged like the brothers they practically were. Then, they joined the other three. Hermione was crying with happiness, with Ginny, Neville, Harry and Ron all in a circle, hugging and shouting. They were a bit away from the rest of the crowd, lost in delirious happiness.  
  
Suddenly, they were interrupted by a high-pitched scream from behind the castle. They were the only ones close enough to hear it. Harry and Ron were confused, but the three Defenders looked at each other with wide eyes.  
  
"Cho," Neville whispered, and the three of them took off running, disappearing behind the castle. Harry and Ron looked at each other, not knowing what to do. They watched the corner of the castle they had disappeared behind uncertainly.  
  
Suddenly, Hermione ran out into vision. She collapsed onto her knees near the forest, and began to vomit. Ron and Harry seemed frozen, not knowing what to do or think. Slowly, Hermione stood up, her knees visibly shaking as she returned to the out of sight location of the others.  
  
It was only a few moments before Hermione came back into view again. Ginny was walking between Cho and Hermione, who were both visibly and audibly sobbing. Ginny seemed to be staring off into a shocked space. Then Neville came around into sight, a grim look on his face.  
  
He was carrying the limp body of Draco Malfoy. 


	15. Funerals, Cho's confession, and Ron's ap...

A/N Okies, everyone. I know I've been saying that this was going to be the final chapter, BUT what I originally had planned as a quicky epilogue became far too long, so there will be SIXTEEN chapters, one more coming. Sorry bout that. Anyway, thanks for reading, and don't forget to review. Enjoy!  
  
  
For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my Loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Fifteen  
  
Eleven students and two staff members, thirteen in all, had died in what was quickly becoming known as 'The Battle of the Wall'. The mode was somber as the student body prepared to go down into the Great Hall for 'The Funeral', where they were to honor the thirteen who had died.  
  
Harry and Ron were shocked to discover that Dean Thomas, one of their fellow dorm mates, was among the fallen. It really hit home then. They were walking down silently with Seamus. They had no idea where Neville was.   
  
As they entered, Harry felt like he had just been punched in the stomach. There were thirteen coffins, and the students wandered like lost puppies to those they had known. The sound of sobbing was the only thing to be heard.   
  
The three Gryffindor boys found themselves standing by Dean, saying their final goodbyes. As they walked around, their eyes wide with the reality of death, they saw others they knew. Ernie Macmillan, Madame Pince, Lisa Turpin, Mr. Filch, Colin Creevey...Ron felt his fingers tingling.  
  
"Harry," He whispered, finally daring to speak through the revered silence.  
  
"What?" Harry whispered back.  
  
"I saw these people in my dream. I saw them just like this...dead." He said in an awed voice. Harry's eyes widened.  
  
"Look," Seamus said suddenly. He had hardly moved the whole time, trying to deal with Dean's death. Dean and Seamus had been best friends. "It's Neville, and Hermione, and Ginny too!" The three boys looked up to see a coffin surrounded by four people. All the others had crowds, but this one seemed deserted by everyone but these four. As the boys got closer, they saw that the fourth person was Cho Chang. They circled around the coffin silently, afraid to interrupt the silent state of the four mourners. Harry looked down into the coffin.  
  
He saw the seemingly sleeping Draco Malfoy.  
  
Harry looked up and studies Malfoy's four mourners. Hermione and Cho were both crying freely, the tears stained their robes, yet somehow remained silent. Neville was looking down at Malfoy's face much the same way Seamus had looked at Dean. Ginny was staring at him, her breathing irregular and her eyes wide. The four of them were gripping each other's hands for dear life.   
  
"Ron?" Hermione choked, suddenly realized that they had been joined by three boys. Harry realized that Ron had been staring at Malfoy with a peculiar expression. He looked up and wrapped his arms around a sobbing Hermione. Neville looked up and gave Seamus and Harry a very wobbly smiled. Cho sniffed, then muttered something about going to see Lisa. Hermione and Neville said goodbye to her. Neville walked over and joined Seamus.  
  
Harry continued to stare at Ginny. Her brown eyes were distant and filled with pain. Her beautiful fiery tresses fell limply around her. He wanted to stay, he wanted to comfort her...he wanted to do anything to see her smile. He looked down at Malfoy, wondering why Ginny had loved him. However, from the looks on the faces of Hermione, Cho, and Neville, there was a lot more to Malfoy than Harry knew of.   
  
"Ginny, are you okay?" Hermione asked her softly. Ginny looked up at Hermione and Ron painfully. Draco...she could not comprehend that he would never share a butterbeer with her again, never roll his eyes at the stories of her friends again. She kept expecting to feel his hands around her eyes and hear a quiet 'guess who?' in her ear. Seeing Hermione with Ron was not making it any easier.  
  
"I just...I just need to be alone, I think..." Ginny managed to choke out. Hermione nodded compassionately, and tugged the boys away, trying to smile at Ginny, but finding whatever muscles that allow you to smile not functioning properly. Neville gave Ginny a hug and whispered something in her ear before returning to the rest of the sixth year Gryffindors. Harry was the last to move, unable to tear his eyes from Ginny and her torture until Hermione gently tugged his sleeve. Still, he felt guilty walking away and leaving Ginny to stand all alone. He turned his head, and saw that she had moved from his feet down to his side, and saw her hold his hand, trembling.  
  
"Let her be, Harry," Hermione said gently to him. "Draco and Ginny...they were so close..." She felt her eyes tearing up again, and Neville patted her shoulder. They met back up with Cho, who was wandering around aimlessly, following the flow of the student body.  
  
"Cho," Hermione said, and she hugged the older girl. Harry and Ron, through their shock at the grief around them, still had enough in them to be confused. "Are you okay?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Yeah," Cho replied, wiping tears away. "Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
"You're a terrible liar, Cho," Neville said, smiling weakly.  
  
"I know," She replied.   
  
"Luna!" Hermione said, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her teacher. Now Harry and Ron were REALLY confused as they saw Professor Starlight fighting her way over to the small group.  
  
"Hermione, Cho, Neville," She said, and Harry was shocked to see that she had been crying. She pulled the three into a hug, which they returned. She looked at them fondly, smiling through her tears.  
  
"I am so proud of you," She whispered. They nodded, and Hermione felt her throat tightening.   
  
"Luna, I have to tell you what happened." Cho whispered, raising her eyes to meet her the professors.  
  
"What do you mean?" Luna asked in concern.  
  
"What really happened...to Draco." She gulped. Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Hermione and Neville looked at her curiously. Luna merely nodded.   
  
"Hey," A voice behind them said, and Harry looked up to see Sirius. "Great spout, you two," He smiled at Hermione and Cho, but the smile seemed forced. They nodded anyway.  
  
"Harry," He said in relief. He hadn't been sure if anything had happened to his godson or not, and he felt as if a great burden had been lifted from him. He hugged Harry, feeling somewhat odd.  
  
"C'mon," Luna said, nudging Sirius, "Dumbledore is going to say something." Indeed, everyone was crowding around the podium Dumbledore was standing at. Hermione bit her lip, twisting around to see where Ginny was still standing with Draco.  
  
"Luna...Ginny..." Hermione said, looking meaningfully at the professor. Luna nodded and walked briskly to pull the red haired girl from her boyfriend...finding that her voice was not functioning properly.  
  
Hermione was finding it hard to comprehend Dumbledore's words. His voice seemed to drone on and on...Hermione's thoughts turned back again to Draco. His terrible jokes, the way he raised his eyebrows if he thought you were lying, the way he looked at Ginny... things she had begun to take for granted that she would never see again. She put her head on Ron shoulder, more to convince herself that he was really there. She couldn't imagine what she would've done if Ron had been one of the thirteen...she couldn't imagine what Ginny was going through.  
  
Ron looked down at her, his heart breaking from the sight of her tears. He gently wiped them from her face.  
  
"Hermione," He said softly, so no one but Hermione could hear. "Malfoy...Draco was a good person. He saved Ginny's life, I saw it." Hermione looked up at Ron in surprise, shocked that he would ever say anything good about Draco. She valued his opinion more than anyone else's, and the fact that he called Draco a good person made her smile.  
  
"You don't know how much that means to me, Ron." She whispered, and he smiled at her. Then he looked back through the crowd, spotting Ginny.  
  
"She loved him, didn't she?" He asked, not taking his eyes off his little sister.  
  
"And he loved her, too." Hermione replied. Ron sighed...saying he owed Ginny an apology was like saying water was damp. He wouldn't be surprised if Ginny never forgave him for those things he had said...and he wouldn't have blamed her either.  
  
Dumbledore seemed to be concluding his speech. Hermione and Ron realized that the crowd was beginning to filter out of the Great Hall.  
  
"Guess it's time to go," Ron sighed. Hermione nodded, and they began to walk slowly back to the doors. They were interrupted when Hermione was tapped on the shoulder by Neville.  
  
"Sorry to interrupt," He said, sounding rather embarrassed. "But Luna wants to see us... now."  
  
"Why now?" Hermione whined, but Neville knew she wasn't going to argue. "I'm sorry, Ron, but I have to go." She said, turning to Ron and pleading that he would understand. His eyes held unspoken questions, but he nodded, and Hermione kissed him on the cheek gratefully. Neville tugged her back to the front of the Great Hall where Luna, Dumbledore, Ginny and Cho were waiting for them.  
  
"You four...you five," Dumbledore corrected himself. "Were incredibly brave three days ago. I am so proud of you," He said, but he knew that his words fell on deaf ears.   
  
"I know nothing I say can help you right now," He sighed. "But know this: Draco died fighting evil, and-"  
  
"No," Cho interrupted. Dumbledore, along with everyone else present looked at her in surprise. "No, Draco...Draco..." She suddenly burst into tears. Hermione felt her eyes widen. She ran to Cho and pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down. Dumbledore came up behind them. When Hermione moved aside, he took Cho's hands and looked at her meaningfully.  
  
"What happened, Cho?" He asked kindly. She sniffed.   
  
"I landed my broom," She sniffed, mumbling almost inaudibly to the floor. "And there was a Death Eater waiting for me. I screamed. Draco was standing right there, and he...he got in the way. The Death Eater killed him. It was his own father!" She cried in anguish, bursting into tears anew. Neville and Ginny watched in shock, but Hermione automatically pulled Cho into a hug again, letting the older girl cry on her shoulder as they rocked back and forth.  
  
"Cho," Luan said after Cho's sobs had began to subside and Hermione had moved away. She put her hands on Cho's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "It is NOT your fault, Cho. No one here is blaming you." She recognized Cho's feelings of guilt immediately.  
  
"That's right!" Neville said, speaking forcefully for the first time all day. "It's not your fault, Cho,"  
  
"Cho, don't blame yourself," Ginny said quietly, hugging her. Dumbledore looked at Sirius, both of them knowing the bond the kids shared and not wanting to disrupt it.  
  
"I think it's time you all went to bed," Dumbledore said gently. "You've had a long week, and you need rest."  
  
Understanding that they had been dismissed, Cho, Neville, Hermione and Ginny turned to leave the Hall, feeling a great hole among them. Luna ran after them.  
  
"Cho?" She said, as the four finally reached the Entrance Hall. "Do you want someone to walk with?"  
  
Cho nodded. She had been dreading the walk to her common room alone. They nodded to the three Gryffindors, who each offered Cho the steadiest smile they could muster. Then they turned and went their different ways.  
  
Neville said goodnight to the girls once he reached the common room and sprinted up to his dorm. He wanted nothing more than to escape the world in the land of slumber. When he got upstairs, he was sharply reminded that his number of dorm mates had decreased. Everyone seemed to be asleep, so Neville changed silently. However, it was several hours before any of the boys entered slumber.  
  
Ginny and Hermione walked slowly up to their separate dorms. They didn't say goodbye when they reached Ginny's dorm, but Hermione touched Ginny's arm and smiled at her. Ginny nodded bravely, and went in alone. Something between them had changed since Defending. Before it had seemed that they were only friends by default, because Ginny was Hermione's best friend's younger sister. Now they were friends because they wanted to be.  
  
Hermione entered her dorm silently. She didn't know whether Parvati was really asleep or not, but Lavender was crying in her bed. It sounded as if she were trying to be quiet, but she and Dean had been going out for a few months. Hermione changed into her pajamas, then opened the curtain around Lavender's bed.  
  
She looked like a mess. When she heard the curtains moving she looked up. Her eyes were red rimmed, and her usually impeccably kept blonde hair was matted all over her face.  
  
"Lavender..." Hermione muttered. In her grief for Draco, she had forgotten how much everyone outside the Defenders was effected by this. She sat down and gave Lavender a desperately needed hug. Although she had never been very fond of her, they shared a moment where they were the closest of friends.  
  
"Thanks, Hermione," Lavender whispered.  
  
"No prob," She smiled the best that she could, then went into her own bed, her head swimming. She didn't fall asleep for a few hours.  
  
Ginny, however, was in a worst state. She changed into her pajamas and sat in bed for a few hours, tossing and turning restlessly. She kept seeing Draco's body lying on the ground at Cho's feet, his limbs sticking out at odd angles. Draco...her Draco.  
  
Finally, she gave up on sleep and pulled on her bathrobe. She walked downstairs like a zombie and fell into her favorite armchair. Her mind was reeling with thoughts and memories of Draco. She felt her throat constrict, and her eyes well with tears.  
  
She let herself cry for the first time in three days. Once she started she couldn't stop. She cried bitterly into her robe. She cried for herself, her friend Colin, Dean, Cho...but most of all, she cried for Draco.  
  
Ron, who had actually been asleep, sat straight up in bed. The clock on his nightstand told him that it was 2:12 AM. Everyone else had finally fallen asleep. His fingers were tingling.  
  
Slowly, he got out of bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Apart from Neville's snores, he could hear nothing but silence. However, something was bugging him. Slowly, he crept down the stair case into the common room. As he got closer, he began to hear it.  
  
Sobbing.  
  
As he got closer, the sobs got louder. It sounded like someone who had their head buried into a pillow. He listened carefully, and managed to distinguish some of the words the person was muttering.  
  
"Why Draco? Why, why, why?" The sobbing voice demanded. Ron stopped in his tracks, remembering when he saw this very situation in his mind's eye. He fled down the stairs to see Ginny curled into a ball in the armchair next to the dying fire, crying into her knees.  
  
"Ginny?" Ron asked, his eyes wide. He had never seen his sister so upset. Ginny looked up, and tried to hide her tears in shame. The last thing she wanted right now was a lecture from Ron about how he was 'Just a Malfoy'.  
  
"Go away, Ron," She said through tears, looking down at her knees. Ron, however, did not go away, he walked over to her, feeling awkward as he tried to work out what to say.  
  
"Ginny...I know you're really upset, and-"  
  
"No, Ron!" Ginny said, not looking up. "No, you have no idea what this feels like."  
  
"You're right," Ron said softly. "I don't." Ginny looked up in surprise. Ron, admitting he was wrong? About Malfoy? Who slipped what into his drink at dinner? "Ginny," Ron continued, sitting down next to her. "I saw Mal-Draco save you out there. Maybe I misjudged him, or he changed, or something. But whatever the reason, he liked you. He loved you, Ginny. And if someone loves you...they can't be all bad." He smiled at his little sister as she sniffled. Her hair was matted around her face, and her cheeks were tear stained. Ron reached over and wiped away a tear as if she were a very small child. "I'm sorry."  
  
Ginny reached over and hugged her brother, not holding back her tears. She felt young and vulnerable, and here was her older brother, offering a shoulder to cry on. She clung onto him, and he just let her cry. And cry she did, cried until she felt like at least some of the loss, the vulnerability, the guilt, the grief, the anger, the helplessness and a thousand other things had been washed from her and onto Ron's shoulders. She sat back and sniffled.  
  
"Feel better?" Ron asked her.  
  
"Yeah, yeah I do." Ginny replied.  
  
"So, what happens now?" Ron asked.  
  
"We go to bed, and tomorrow, we get up and spend our last full day at Hogwarts before returning home for Christmas." Ginny replied, her voice raspy from sobbing.  
  
"Sounds like a plan to me," Ron replied. "Good night, Ginny."  
  
"Ron?" Ginny asked, just as Ron was about to start climbing the stairs.  
  
"Yeah?" He asked, turning around to see his baby sister.  
  
"How did you know I was down here?"  
  
"I don't know." Ron shrugged. "I just...knew."  
  
"Oh, good night then."  
  
"Good night." He replied. Ginny climbed the stairs to her dorm thoughtfully. He just knew...it seemed that recently Ron had 'just known' a lot of things. He was probably the Divinator! If he was, and one of the Defenders had died, and they needed a new one...  
  
Ginny grinned for the first time in what seemed like ages. Next term was definitely going to be interesting! 


	16. The END!!!!! (and a really long ty secti...

For the Love of the Land  
~I pledge my loyalty to Honor, Justice, and Hogwarts~  
Part Sixteen  
  
Harry, for the first time, was not staying at Hogwarts for Christmas. Ron had written home and asked if Harry could come to the Burrow for holidays. So, Harry would be staying with the Weasleys, and he was thrilled. He and Ron were doing the rest of their last minute packing. They would be eating breakfast at school before embarking on the trip back home a few hours later. Hermione was also going home for the holidays, obviously.  
  
Ron and Harry were eagerly discussing their plans for Christmas at breakfast, but both were feeling rather uneasy. Hermione was not at breakfast. They found it rather strange that Hermione was not sharing her last meal at Hogwarts with them. Ron cracked a joke about her spending her last, desperate moments in the Library, but for some reason they both knew this wasn't true.  
  
Suddenly, two owls flew to them. Most of the Hall blew it off as stragglers who hadn't come in with all the others. However, the boys knew otherwise as two of the little red summons cards were dropped into their pancakes.  
  
"Whoa, aren't these those things Hermione always gets?" Ron asked, grabbing it and eagerly performing a spell to clear it of syrup.  
  
"Yeah," Harry replied, doing the same. "Professor Starlight," He read.  
  
"You know, Harry, I think there's a lot more to this woman than we thought," Ron said, staring at the card. It seemed that Starlight had come up often recently.  
  
"I think you're right," Harry replied. "C'mon, let's go." The boys made their way to the Professor Starlight's office, pondering the possible reasons why they would be wanted there. They cautiously opened the door and looked around. They were not expecting what they saw.  
  
Starlight herself was sitting at the desk, waiting patiently for them. Standing behind her, from left to right, were Sirius, Ginny, Hermione, Neville, and Cho Chang. There were two chairs on the other side of Starlight's desk, obviously for them. They walked in reluctantly, uneasy by the intimidating silence in the room. Six pairs of eyes were watching their every move.  
  
"Welcome to your first meeting as Defenders of Hogwarts." Starlight said as they took their seats.  
  
"What?" Harry replied, confused. Ron was looking at the lot of them as if they were stark raving mad, which indeed he was convinced they were.  
  
"No, Ron, we're not crazy," Hermione said, smiling at Ron's face. Her words lightened the mood of the room ever so slightly.  
  
"What's going on here?" Harry demanded. Ron nodded in agreement. Starlight sighed.  
  
"The Defenders," She explained. "Are seven students chosen by the Golden Book of Acceptance. They have qualities of all four houses. Six of the Defenders control an element of either Fire, Ice, Water, Wind, Earth or Lightening. The seventh is a Divinator. Never are all seven Defenders together allowed to be trained, because their powers combined could not be controlled and would end in disaster. However, during dire circumstances, four, five, or even six Defenders can be used as the castle's last resort of defense.  
  
"I myself was a Defender of Lightening during the first rise of Voldemort. Sirius here was the Water Defender. We were trained with James Potter, Lily Evans, and Peter Weasley."  
  
"My parents..." Harry whispered. Starlight nodded.  
  
"James, that is your father, was Water and Lily was fire. It was quite interesting actually, what with their little lover's spats..."  
  
"What was my uncle?" Ron interrupted fiercely. Harry suddenly comprehended that the last person that Starlight had mentioned was a Weasley.  
  
"He was a Divinator..." Starlight replied, looking sideways at him. Harry gave Ron a curious look, and was surprised to see the his best friend looked furious! Harry wondered what was going on.  
  
"Anyway," Starlight continued. "At the beginning of this year the Defenders were reinstated to help cope with the second rise of Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore hired me to teach because I could coach them. Since he was cleared, Sirius has been acting as my second-in-command, in a sense. Dumbledore told me to chose five of the seven Defenders. I chose Hermione Granger, the Water Defender; Ginny Weasley, the Fire Defender; Neville Longbottom, the Earth Defender; Cho Chang, the Wind Defender; and Draco Malfoy, the Ice Defender."  
  
"You're a Defender?" Ron asked, looking at Hermione incredulously. She smiled slyly. "And you?" He asked, staring at his baby sister, who nodded. Harry could only stare. So THAT'S how Ginny and Draco met...  
  
"We are grieving the loss of Draco," Starlight continued, emotion entering her voice for the first time. The Defenders behind her looked away, and Ginny hung her head. It seemed the mere mention of his name pained them. "However, we cannot afford to have only four Defenders. So, I have decided that when classes resume, I will begin instructing the Lightening Defender and the Divinator." She looked pointedly at Harry and Ron.  
  
"US?" Ron asked, his mouth opening slightly. Starlight nodded.  
  
"Don't look so surprised, Ron," Neville said.  
  
"Yeah, you have dreamt about the future before," Hermione pointed out.  
  
"It was your dream that warned us about the Death Eaters." Cho explained.  
  
"But, I never told any of you about that dream!" Ron exclaimed in frustration. "Unless one of you...okay, who was eavesdropping?" He looked at each of them, and found Hermione giving him that same sly smile. "Why Hermione, you little..." He said teasingly. She winked at him.  
  
"I'm a Defender?" Harry interrupted, looking at Starlight in shock.  
  
"As you're parents were before you." She nodded. "This is actually how they met."  
  
"And how we met too, right Luna?" Sirius said, winking at Harry and Ron.  
  
"I didn't ask you, Sirius!" Starlight cried in exasperation, turning around to glare at the grinning man who was about a foot taller than her when she was standing, let alone sitting.  
  
"Sorry," He replied sarcastically. She rolled her eyes. Harry and Ron noticed Cho and Hermione snickering.  
  
"So I will be training you when term starts." She said, choosing to ignore Sirius and turning to look at Harry and Ron again. "I suggest you talk with your fellow Defenders. They can probably answer your questions much better than I can."  
  
"You flatter us, Luna," Ginny said jokingly. The Defenders laughed and beckoned the bewildered boys out of the office.  
  
"Well," Cho said once they were outside. "That went better than I thought it would."  
  
"You can say that again!" Hermione said, laughing. "I expected Harry to go on about saving the world again!"  
  
"And Ron to explode because 'we've been putting ickle Ginny in danger'!" Neville teased, tugging Ginny's hair playfully.  
  
"Ummm..." Harry said, interrupting them. The four spun around guiltily. They had completely forgotten Harry and Ron were there. There was an uncomfortable silence.  
  
"Where's Draco when you need him?" Neville sighed. "He'd have something witty to say right now."  
  
"And probably rude to," Hermione added fondly.   
  
"You can say that again," Ginny said, smiling sadly.  
  
"C'mon guys," Hermione said, motioning to Ron and Harry. "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions."  
  
"To the Library!" Cho exclaimed. The six students walked to library, with Harry and Ron rolling off an infinite number of questions, and one of the other Defenders answering promptly. The uncomfortable setting soon gave way to eager curiosity and bonding friendship. Ron and Harry were glad they finally knew what Hermione had been up to all this time.  
  
"Geez, I'm surrounded by Gryffindors," Cho rolled her eyes as Ron said something about Gryffindor leading the race for the House Cup for the sixth year running. "I need Draco!"  
  
Eventually, Cho made an excuse to go pack. Ginny and Neville left shortly, and it was just the three friends together again, with no secrets between them. Hermione was thrilled that she was going to share everything with them next term. However, through all their joking had been an underlying grief for the loss of Draco. All four, even Hermione, were a bit reluctant to allow Harry and Ron, Draco's worst enemies, to take his place. However, they had convinced themselves that Harry and Ron were simply joining them, and Draco still held his special place. It was true.  
  
"How can you do it, Hermione?" Ron asked, impressed.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Don't play dumb." Harry replied, rolling his eyes. "I mean, this sounds really dangerous and like a lot of work. Why do you do it? Is it for revenge?"  
  
"No," Hermione replied, trying to find the words to answer their question. "It's not like that."  
  
"They what keeps pushing you?" Harry asked. "What keeps you from giving up."  
  
"The love of the land, Harry," Hermione replied simply. "It's all for the love of the land."  
  
  
  
THE END!!!  
  
  
A/N WOW! Can you guys believe it! I FINISHED A STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I'm so happy! Yes, there will be a sequel: A Glimpse of the Hidden. I'll start working on that after I get over the ecstasy of actually having finished a story. I love you all so much!  
  
Okay, here's the part where I leave a HUGE AND REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY long thank you list to EVERYONE who has reviewed my story.  
  
  
People who get a thank you:  
KellyBee  
L-Dog  
Jade Potter  
Captain Antilles  
Phoenixgirl  
Cthomes  
Nuts  
Rheanna  
Katy713  
Crissa  
Shayla Black  
Emerald Star  
Damiean Leoka Cardoza  
Sarah Fellowrighter  
Jabroniette  
Kanielle   
Snidget  
Omniotence  
Key  
Lily Vance  
Nycgal  
Aquria  
Chaos Kid  
Debra  
~Lisa~  
Rosandra May aka Lillian  
Bon  
Lily Ayl  
Blaque faerie  
Rose  
Wolfgirl  
Goddess of Fire  
Mark  
Daydreamer  
Hiasobi  
Kat  
DarkWolf24  
Lord Amber  
Lavender  
Spunky  
Surferchick  
Jfox  
Cho  
Sassinak  
EvillyInsaneGirl  
Jace  
Em  
  
  
People who are loved because they reviewed more than once:  
Fairydust816  
NightMistress  
Li-chan  
Triggy  
Bery1196  
Kay  
Rayven Blackwood  
Kiara  
  
  
People who deserve flowers and kisses and chocolate chip cookies for reviewing more than five times:  
Chrissy  
Freyda  
ILOVELINKENPARK222  
  
  
Girlies I love! This story's for you!  
Diana Snape-My very best friend in the whole wide world! SPORK!!!!!   
Silverphoenixwings-I love you girlie!  
Star*dust-hello blonde fruit! I'm mentioning you! Don't you feel loved.  
  
  
THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO BRITZ!!!!!!!!!!  
Britz is my beta and a great friend! She deserves every word in this story. She had reviewed, like, eleven times. I love you, chica!  
  
  
I love you all! Mwaz! 


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